Like A Ghost
by YourFaveCanadian
Summary: Silas has a lot on his plate from dealing with his family to school and being a metahuman; not to mention having to keep his superhero lifestyle and secrets from his nosey best friend Dick Grayson. Will joining the team improve Silas' life or just complicate it further? AqualadXOC Slowburn
1. Chapter 1

**October 3, 2008, Gotham City**

Silas was a small kid at eleven years old, being shorter and thinner than all of the other boys in his grade. His mother had always assured her that this was completely normal for her side of the family, and that he would eventually shoot up eventually. After all, his father was a tall man at six foot three and his mother was taller than average at five foot five but Silas also knew that average height for a Vietnamese male was five foot four and women five foot one. He already felt like he was missing his milestones in life and to have this only worsened the blow.

Sitting up in his bed, Silas picked up the small blue stress ball that had the Gotham Academy logo in yellow from his bedside table as he stared at it with a furrowed brow. He thought about what his mother had suggested before as he concentrated on being able to see through it. Silas thought about the unremarkable shade of cream on the wall in front of him and what the ball was hiding from his eyesight. Slowly, the edges began to fade away as he concentrated further, leaning closer to it as he thought about the finer details behind it. However as he concentrated more, the pressure and pain increased around his eyes as he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped the stress ball.

"Come on." He muttered before throwing himself back on his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. The density shifting was something he was getting better with for inanimate objects for brief moments but making anything but himself and sometimes his clothes was difficult. It was likely that he had guidance for the density shifting, whereas with the invisibility, he was completely on his own. There was a noise from the doorway as he felt the bed dip beside him as he looked over to his mother who was giving him a small smile.

"No luck?"

Silas shook his head.

"You'll get it soon Si, we can try more tonight, okay? It's just practice. Like working a muscle." Bian offered as she leaned over to run her hands through his hair as she let out a bit of a hum before looking at him. "However, you need to get up and ready for school baby."

Si gave out a small sigh but relented as he stood up as Bian left the room as she shut the door behind her. He got into his uniform and went through his bathroom routine quickly. As he walked out of the bathroom, he could hear his mother in the kitchen on the phone as he did up his tie relying mostly on muscle memory.

"Is there any way to move the interview up an hour? That's the same day as the charity event I'm hosting." Bian was talking as she paused for a moment before continuing. "Yes this fundraiser is very important to me. It's for programs to teach English to immigrants and I am to host. I'm needed for the entire night."

As he walked into the kitchen, Silas saw the smoke had a pan that was smoking with a burnt smell as Bian was facing away as she leaned on the island, looking down at her tablet as she talked on the phone. "We could always have me in make up early and have the look for both if that makes it easier?"

"Mom." Silas called out as he waved his hand to call her attention as he pointed to the stove.  
It was a mess with Silas smelling the burnt food and could see the waft of smoke that Bian was currently dealing with as he moved to the smoking toaster oven and immediately turned it off as he grabbed tongs to pull out the now charred toast and place it on a nearby plate. Glancing over to his mother, he gave her a small look. "Do you normally like your toast this dark?"

Her eyes widened as she rushed over, turning on the fan above the stove. "Shit! No, not to you. I'm just burning breakfast." Bian's phone was tucked into the nook of her head and shoulder as she moved the pan to an off burner as she groaned. Silas looked over to the trash as he opened it to see the burnt remains of previous attempts. "Okay, that sounds good. I'll call you back in a couple hours, yeah? Bye."

Silas watched his mother hang up as she leaned against the counter before looking at her watch. "You know what? Pancakes don't sound good anyways. Let's go to get some breakfast before school, yeah?"

Silas shook his head. "I'm fine just having some of the leftover-" Silas began as Bian shook her head before giving him her trademark smile. It was a little crooked but lit up her entire face. "Come on, it'll be fun. We could go to the bakery. After all, we haven't done anything too fun this week and you leave tomorrow afternoon to your dad's."

Silas relented since he knew that his mother was trying at this point and it would be a week before he could go to the bakery again. "Okay, but tomorrow morning we'll actually make breakfast AND eat it. Successfully."

Bee relaxed up hearing this as she nodded. "I promise you and I'll show you that I used to actually be decent at cooking Si."

"It's just an adjustment period."

"Exactly, no matter what your grandmother tells you." She gestured for him to go get his back as she headed to go get changed to go out for the day. Silas came out of his bedroom with his backpack as he went through the motions of grabbing his mother's keys from the bathroom, and her phone from the kitchen as he set them on the little table near the door beside her purse.

"Si, have you seen my ke-"  
"They're beside your purse." Silas called out as he slipped on his shoes and waited for her to come out. She had thrown all her hair in a bun and one of her standard sundresses with a jacket since it was fall now.

She got to the doorway as she smiled at her son as she tucked her keys and phone into her pockets before tossing her purse over the shoulder as she let out a sigh. "I swear, I'd lose my own head if it wasn't attached lately."

"You've got a lot on your plate mom, it's understandable." Silas offered as Bian gave him a look.

"You're so mature for your age already," Bian began before adding. "But you should let me be the adult."

The pair headed out of the apartment as they went down the private elevator. It was a security measure that Bian had taken, with the entrance near the security office. As they exited, the pair waved to the morning security guard before heading to Bian's car. It was still new to her since she bought it only a few months ago for the separation but it wasn't anything too fancy to look at because she was more focused on something suited for daily life than to show off her money.

Bian immediately had the radio on playing music as they headed out, making small chatter about Bian getting ready for a new movie soon. As they reached a red light, Bian let go of the wheel as she turned slightly, looking at Silas with a grin. "So, I heard back from Eloise."

"Your clothing stylist?"

"No, my suit designer." Bian emphasized. "And she said by the end of the month your suit will be finished."

"What?!" Silas practically shouted, smile wide as the joy was clear on his face as he was practically bouncing in his seat. "Does that mean I can actually go out soon? Will I meet Batman? Is his voice super deep?"

Bian held back a chuckle. "Soon. I just need to let Batman know since he's the primary hero after all." The light turned green as Bian focused her attention back to the front. "But he does want to meet with you. As for the voice you'll have to see."

"This is so cool! I can't actually wait to get out in the city and save the day. Do you think I'd get to see Killer Croc in person? He looks HUGE. I think his hand was bigger than your face in the last photo."

"Si, you need to take this seriously, okay? I'm glad you are excited but there's a lot of tough work involved in this." Bian reminded him as she pulled into a parking spot

"I promise I'll be serious. This is just what I've been waiting for now for months mom. I really want to help and do something with my powers."

"Okay." Bian offered as they both opened their doors, stepping out of the car as they stopped their conversation now they were in public. Silas was walking happily ahead of his mother as he daydreamed on his superhero lifestyle as he pushed open the door to the bakery. The owner immediately saw them from her position at the counter as she waved to them while she served a different customer. It was definitely steady there as the pair waited for An to finish. An was considered a stern old woman by the people who just met her especially those who wanted to argue about her prices but in reality, she had a heart of gold for the community around her.

As they waited, Bian pulled Silas right against her as he squirmed a bit in her hug as he whined. "Moom, let go." Although he said that and they were in public, Silas was still enjoying it as they finally went to the cash.

"Chào buổi sáng, An. Chúng ta có thể lấy hai bahn mi, một ít cà phê và trà cho Si không?" Bian spoke as she finally let go of Silas, nudging him to the side and smiling at An as she tried playing things off casually. (Good morning, An. Could we get two bahn mi, some coffee and a tea for Si?)

"Làm hỏng bữa sáng một lần nữa?" The woman looked at Bee with a knowing look, trying to hide her smile. (Ruin breakfast again?)

"Vâng." Silas immediately answered as Bian rubbed the back of her head. (Yeah)

"Tôi đã nói với bạn, hãy đến đây và tôi sẽ cho bạn những bài học về nấu ăn."  
(I told you, come here and I'll give you lessons on cooking.)

"Chúng ta sẽ thấy, được chứ?"  
(We'll see, okay?)

"$14." Bian nodded as she pulled out some bills, over $25 as the pair went over to their usual table and sat down as Silas looked over at his mother with a look on his face. His mouth was slightly upturned on one side with his eyebrows relaxed.

"Oh hush." Bian spoke teasingly as she leaned over poking his cheek.

"I didn't say anything." Silas offered as he glanced down at the table as he lost any composure he had. Soon, An came over to their table holding a tray as she set the two plates down in front of them, then their two drinks in to go cups and a brown paper bag as Bian made a bit of a face.

"An, we didn't order any pastries-"

An rolled her eyes as the two women went through their usual routine of bickering about this that Silas had trouble keeping up with since the two would do it in Vietnamese quickly. Every time they came in, Bian would tip at least $15 minimum when they would come since she loved the place. Then An would try to give them extra since Bian would post online about this place and come quite regularly to get food which made her fans explore the place in hopes of seeing her.

Eventually the discussion ended as it usually did with Bian getting the treats and An being smug as she went back to work. Silas had already eaten half of his banh mi since he loved this food and was rather hungry.

Bian took a bite as she happily chewed before talking. "So, any plans for school today? Hanging out with friends at lunch, club meetings or well, anything?"

Silas shook his head as he took a moment to think of something he could possibly say before speaking. "I was thinking of going to the library to start on my English essay at lunch?"

"Silas, don't take this the wrong way but it worries me that you don't seem to have any friends at school." She leaned back as she crossed her arms. "Is everything okay?"

"O-of course! The kids at school are nice enough but I prefer being alone."

Bian gave him a look, one full of doubt as she squinted for a moment before deciding to let it go since they were in public but was planning on talking with him later. "Well, if you want to be friends with someone, I can introduce you to Bruce's ward, Richard, he thinks you two would be good friends."

"Maybe." Silas offered, not looking at her. "What about you?"

"After I drop you off, I need to see the lawyer to go over all the paperwork once more and dates for the upcoming meetings, then there's a skype interview for a news article, I may be meeting Diane about a project she's doing hair for and the potential for me to have a cameo. Then Bruce is coming over to help me with some office things." Bian listed off, clearly aware of her schedule as Silas made a face at her. She was supposed to be taking a break due to the stress of everything but it felt like the opposite with the additional meetings she had been taking on.

Remembering her telling him to let her be the adult, he decided to not talk about it as they finished their breakfast before heading to the car with their drinks and the leftover pastries. He got into the passenger side first and as he set his cup into the cupholder, Silas saw his mother's phone which had been left on the mount while they were inside was ringing with 'unknown' as the contact listing. Before Bian could see it, Silas leaned over and dismissed the notification since he knew she wouldn't have picked it up but at least this way she could worry about it later.  
Bian slid into the car as she smiled at him. "Alright, ready to head to school?"

"Yeah, mom." Silas spoke as he gave her a soft smile before he looked out his passenger window and decided to stay quiet. He had a lot of questions regarding his parent's divorce but was hesitant to even ask any more since everyone was avoiding at giving him reasonable answers. When he asked Bian, she told him that it was her job to worry whereas his father would simply throw insults about Bian around and that just because he wasn't there at his father's all the time that he couldn't get away with not following his father's directions. Most of his information was coming through the news reports, which was ridiculous.

He knew why Bian was trying this but Silas wanted to know. She was trying to keep a pep in her step so that she could pretend that Silas was oblivious to all of the chaos going on, but in fact it backfired so that now Silas was hyper aware of everything going on while needing to pretend that he was oblivious.

Bian didn't seem to notice that Silas was deep in thought as they drove to the school. She pulled up to the front of the building as Silas let out a long sigh before looking at his mom.

"Okay Si, have a good day today."

"You too." Silas began as he leaned over to give his mother a half hug. "Love you."

"Love you more." Bian pressed a kiss to the top of his head before gesturing for Silas to head out. He did so as he waved back to her while walking up the path. It was already getting cold in Gotham so he didn't waste much time to get inside. There were crowds of people hovering around some of the classrooms and lockers as they caught up before classes. Silas didn't go to any as he made his way to his own locker. It was a terrible location in his opinion since it was in the hallway that connected to the auditorium which was used maybe four times a month during the school day if it were busy. So, unless there was a school event in that area, most people would not be in this hallway because they didn't have a reason to.

As he walked on the familiar path, Silas could hear the trailing sounds of footsteps of a group that seemed in step with his as he walked by one of the trophy cases. From the reflection in the glass, Silas could see that his brother's friends were following him while shoving each other and snickering. He kept his eyes forward as he focused on keeping his mannerisms normal to not alert the boys that he was aware. He just needed to get to his locker so he could drop his bag off and grab his first class's books and could go back to the more populated area.

Silas listened to their steps as he tried seeing if there was any way that he could get away from them or even out of their view for just a second, then he could disappear and wait before going to his locker.

The fates were against Silas, as he thought was almost normal at this point as he heard the hollering before being yanked back by his backpack's upper loop.

"Did you give mommy a kiss before you left?" Douglas, who was his brother's right hand called out right against Silas's ear. "Huh, slopehead?" The friends around were snickering as Silas went to make a break for it only to be dragged back.

"Nothing to say? Weird. Your mom had a lot to say to me last night." Chris called out as he patted Silas's head who glared up at him as he was pushed forward so he fell roughly on the tiled floor as one of the boys grabbed at his backpack. Silas slipped his arms out of the handle as he turned quickly to grab the straps and tug it back towards it.

"Let it go and leave me alone!"

"The freak speaks!" Douglas called out as he yanked at the bag harder as two of the boys grabbed Silas's shoulders and slammed him into the locker. Silas tried to stop himself from fighting back since a kid like him wasn't supposed to know how to fight. Chris and another boy held him as Douglas began going through his things.

"Your shit's so boring." Douglas called as he threw a few textbooks out onto the ground as Douglas got to the notebook. He flipped it to the marked page as he started tugging the pages out. "Do you really need any of this Casper?"

"Asshole!" Silas shouted in an act of anger that surprised the boys who were taken aback for a moment as they then laughed.

"Oh, Vince isn't going to believe us that you cursed. After all, he was telling us that you're such an annoying kid to be around."

"I haven't even seen him in a week. "Silas bit back as he watched Douglas for a moment as he added. "You're idiots for believing everything he says."

Chris immediately threw a jab into Silas' side as they were interrupted by a different voice yelling out.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Silas looked over in confusion as he saw a boy he recognized from his class as the smart math kid but that was it. The rest of the boys even looked over at the kid repeated. "I said… leave. Him. Alone."

Silas heard the snickering as they waited a moment until the bell rang above him which signified the start of homeroom. Vince's friends stopped for a moment before they finally dropped Silas as they walked past the math kid, shoving him as they headed to their class.

Silas let out a groan as he tried to think about what happened as he started to collect his things, knowing that he'd have to reattach or rewrite his class notes at lunch.

"Hey, are you okay?" The boy asked him as Silas couldn't help but shoot him a look as he kneeled down to shove everything unceremoniously into his bag since he wanted to get to homeroom and just forget about this day even if it meant lugging his backpack around all day with him so he couldn't get cornered again.

"Yep. Fine." Silas spoke with a huff and although his voice was quiet, he gave a stern look before letting out a sigh as he knew that this was misplaced anger since the boy actually helped him. Silas rubbed the back of his head as he started preparing for the consequences of everything from yelling back at Vince's friends. "You shouldn't have stepped in you know."

"I wasn't going to stand there and let them walk all over you, it isn't the right thing to do."

"Well, that's just an assumption. Maybe I started it." Silas offered as he zipped up his backpack. "Sometimes, it's simpler to not fight back since it gets it over sooner. It's a routine-"

"Then please explain it to me. Or to a teacher-"

"No. Look, it's just easier this way, okay? Besides I barely know you." Silas snapped, getting annoyed from the pestering as he tried to soften his expression. "Sorry. Anyways, thank you." Silas spoke as he stood up and headed out of the area, walking quickly ahead of the dark haired boy that was following him. Silas went into the one homeroom as he noticed the boy went to a homeroom down the hallway. Silas immediately apologized for his tardiness as the teacher gave him a look as he shrugged it off.

Silas couldn't help but notice the boy a few more times in his day. They seemed to share math and history, and then Silas happened to see the boy was also sitting in the library on the other side. He knew that it was likely that he was thinking about it as to why he suddenly noticed him everywhere. Silas had learned that his name was Dick.

* * *

When Silas was done school for the day, he was absolutely exhausted as he made a beeline for the spot his mother was parked as he got in, throwing his bag on the floor of the car.

"How was your day?" Bian asked, her tone trying to sound chipper although it had that underlying tone that Silas knew was her trying to gage his mood.

"It was fine." he offered, leaning back in his chair as he looked down at his bag. He honestly didn't have the energy to try and fake a good day.

"What happened?"  
"Nothing. I'm just tired is all."

"Si, baby-"

"Seriously, I'm fine." Silas offered, his tone emphasizing the fine as his mother decided to drop it and drove out of the parking lot. "How was your meetings?" he asked to deter the attention from him

"Well, the meeting with the lawyer went as well as it could have, all things considered. The rest went well and honestly, it was nice to have an interview that wasn't asking for my exercise routine."

From that point, Bian mostly led the conversation in the car ride home with Silas occasionally giving her an 'uh huh' or a short sentence.

Bian mostly led the conversation for the way home and when Silas got home, he immediately changed into some comfier clothing before dealing with his backpack. He just wanted to get the things out for homework on his desk so he didn't forget it. As he moved one of his notebooks, Silas saw an envelope fall from it to the floor.

Raising an eyebrow, Silas leaned down and picked it up. It had his mother's name on it in block lettering. The envelope flap was tucked in rather than sealed with the glue or a wax seal. Curiosity got the better of him as he opened the envelope and set it to the side as he read the letter inside that was typed rather than handwritten.

I warned you to not tarnish my name and reputation with this divorce. You refused to listen and now I will play just as dirty as you. You are nothing but a dumb whore that I will deport and prevent you from seeing Silas again. He is a failure because of your coddling but I will not let your dirty blood ruin my legacy-

Silas knew he couldn't stomach to read more as it got into the insults about him. He quickly tucked the letter back in as if it had never been touched as he set it on his desk. Silas was about ready to just throw it out when he saw his mother come into his room.

"What's that?"

"Nothing-"

"Really? It has my name on it." Bian spoke as she walked over and picked it up. "Did your teacher send you home with a letter?"

"Nope. Uh, I think it is one of your fan letters that may have accidentally got scooped in with my schoolwork last night. I can go put it in your office later."

"Weird, I thought those were in my office." Bian spoke as she held it in her hands, deciding to open it as her expression gave it away for a moment before she composed herself and tucked the letter away.

"Did you read this?"

"No, it's not my letter. Why?"

"Nothing, just a stupid letter from someone is all that doesn't really say anything worth reading is all."

"Okay…" Silas knew his mother wouldn't tell him about it as he decided to skip his homework as he went to play some video games as he sat on the couch in front of the television.

The game system was rather new, and the first one that Silas had even owned which may have seemed strange since both his families wouldn't even notice from the account if they bought, but his father was quite insistent that video games, and in turn most modern media was terrible and far too liberal with their ideals. If Vincent Mayhew had his way, they'd go back to the days where you couldn't even have the sound of a toilet flushing on film. So, of course Bian decided to have a bit of a rebellious spree of things that Silas had never had in the Mayhew house which was apparently common in separations due to parents vying for favoritism while trying to make the child feel that they aren't at fault.

He turned on the game, Zombie Popper, as he absentmindedly played. It was a game where you had to find pieces of maps to get to the next safety zone while avoiding or attacking zombies by jumping on their heads. It was actually challenging to find the map pieces for Silas, but that was likely due to the inexperience in playing. He was playing for a bit when Bian called out from her bedroom.

"Heads up, Bruce should be here soon!"

"Kay!" Silas called back, working on the level more and even though he had tried dodging from the zombie's strike he died as he groaned, tossing the controller onto the coffee table since he had no clue what to do and was starting to consider trying to scour the internet to find hints.

Silas was just about to go do that when he heard the telltale ding from the security system as Silas knew someone was coming up as he got up to the door as he looked through the peephole. There was monitors in the office, but Silas didn't want to run and check as he peeked to see Bruce, followed by the telltale knock that Bruce would use as he threw open the door with a smile. Out of all of his mother's friends, he liked Bruce the most.

"Okay!" Silas called back as he worked on the level. Even though he tried dodging from the zombie's strike, he died as Silas groaned and set the controller down. He really didn't know what he was doing wrong and was even thinking of going online to find hints.

There was a telltale ding from the security system as Silas knew that someone was coming up the elevator as he got up to the door. He really liked Bruce the most out of all his mother's friends. He Sure enough, there was the telltale knock of four times quickly at mid level, followed by the tap lower on the door as Silas went through the process of unlocking the multiple locks before he threw open the door.

"Hi Bruc-" Silas started as he stopped upon seeing the boy behind Bruce. It was the math kid from earlier, Dick, as Silas's face paled. Dick waved at him awkwardly as Silas tried to calm himself down.

Bruce smiled as he walked in. "Silas, it's good to see you. I've mentioned him before, but this is my ward, Richard. You may know each other from school."

"Yeah, we've uh.. We've met." Silas offered as an answer as he shut the door behind them, relocking the five different locks and bolts. Silas turned to see Dick looking around as he undid his shoes as Silas was sure that Dick was judging him. Their place wasn't like the formal manors but was still expensive. It had cream tones, accent walls, expensive furniture and polished kitchen equipment as seen in the designer magazines, but Bian had also made sure to give it a slightly homey feel with quilts on the couches then trinkets and photos all over. He was slightly embarrassed though that there was a sink full of dishes that were going to take quite a bit of scrubbing to fix them.

Silas heard his mother walking down the stairs as she called out. "Bruce!" Her voice as soft as she walked in and Silas turned to look at Dick who seemed to be completely enamored by his mother with his jaw pretty slack and as Silas also knew that this was the normal. Although Bian was in her more casual clothing and without makeup, she still seemed to have an air about her that drew people in to her. She seemed to notice the boy as she grinned. "Oh, is this Richard?"

"Yes, ma'am."  
Bian snorted in laughter hearing ma'am as she looked at Richard. "Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Things have been crazy with work or else I'd have met you sooner." She crossed her arms with a smile. "Also, please call me Bee, not ma'am. After all, friend of Bruce is friend is mine. How are you liking Gotham?"

"It's nice. School is far more different than being homeschooled." Looking over at Silas, he gestured at him. "You know, we actually officially met earlier today, funny enough."

Silas made a bit of a face upon hearing this as his mother looked at him, beaming as she mouthed at him. 'You didn't tell me that!' before going to grab the bag of treats from earlier as she set them on the coffee table. "You guys are probably hungry after school, why don't you have some treats?"

"Bian, you wanted to go over that paperwork, right?" Bruce questioned as he nudged her towards getting to business as Silas noticed her smile drop a bit, the joy leaving her eyes.

"Right yes." Bian spoke as she looked at Silas. "Si, baby, can you keep Dick entertained for a bit?"

Silas nodded as she looked at Bruce. "Alright, follow me."

Silas was left awkwardly in the living room with Dick, who was eating one of the pastries happily as Silas tried to not say anything as he sat down on the couch. They could awkwardly sit down and ignore one another

"So, Bee's your mom? That's got to be pretty cool with her being an actress." Silas was surprised that Dick was purposely interacting with him, since he knew how these things went. Usually, friends of his parents, and in turn their kids, would have some polite small talk before they would sit in silence. He waited a moment to make sure he was right before talking.

"Honestly, she's the best." Silas spoke as he sat on the couch, hands clasped together in front of him as he smiled. "I mean, she's a movie star which a lot of people have perceptions about but she's just mom to me, she doesn't act like a star."

"That's awesome." Dick spoke. "It's kind of like Bruce. He's a great guardian to have after everything and does a lot to care for me and make me feel like I belong. We play basketball and stuff."

"Bruce is great." Silas admitted as he looked down at his lap. "Thanks for helping me earlier."

"Don't mention it. Besides, I can't just be a bystander but I need to ask, dude, why are you letting them do this?"

Silas' voice was a tiny whisper, leaning a bit closer. "Promise to not tell my mom, or Bruce… OR Alfred."

Dick let out a bit of a laugh when Silas added Alfred as he nodded. "Of course."

"So, those boys are the goonies of my brother. My parents are going through a rough divorce, so Vince wants to take it out on me since he thinks it is my fault. He's only my half brother and thinks that my mother babies me too much." Leaning back in the chair. "Then, he's big on my dad's work of wanting me to learn 'true and proper family values'. They got so terrible with the harassment that mom needed to get a higher security place. I know she's trying to hide it, but dad is definitely threatening her."

"Wow they sound like jerks putting you in a tough place like this."

Silas shrugged, this was pretty normal for him. "Dad's just pretty strict, it was the way he was raised. Especially on my brother more than I. He's been taught on how to be the perfect heir to the business since childhood since he is the first in line to the Mayhew company after all."

Dick seemed to nod as Silas tried to not emphasize it. After all, there were plenty of rich families in the Gotham Academy and didn't want to feel like he was bragging. The Mayhews were an old family of Gotham, similar to the likes of the Arkham's. They had made their money in industrializing the outskirts of what was Gotham with various factories, then expanding into more investment opportunities. The family was known for their conserative and traditional values, barely changing methods or business models unless there was a guaranteed chance of success. All in all, it was a heavy weight to have on your shoulders and a large shadow to fall behind.

"Doesn't mean they get to be assholes." Dick offered before pointing to the game system. "Are you playing Zombie Popper?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm only on level 2." Silas bit his lip as Dick smiled before leaning over to grab the controllers. "Well, I've only been able to get to level 5. Did you want to play a round? I've heard that there's a hidden map in level 4 that can only be reached in multi-player mode."

"Sure." Silas said as he took the controller and turned on the system.

* * *

"I know I called you over to talk about some tech stuff for my suit, but this is just proving my point." Bian spoke as she shoved the note at Bruce, now wrapped in a plastic sleeve as she rubbed her forehead, sighing heavily. "I'm just so tired of this Bruce. This was in Silas's backpack. He thinks it was just a fan letter that was dropped in his bag but imagine if he saw this? Death threats from his father, that would wreck him."

She moved to sit down, hands going into her hair as she twisted the hair around her hands. "My inboxes are full from his voicemails and emails from him on how he will do whatever to prevent Silas from being screwed up. He wants to take rights to MY son. Vincent didn't give a fuck about us unless it was to get mad at Si, or for publicity. Can't he just let us go peacefully?"

Bruce leaned on the desk as he read through the note. "I understand Bee. Honestly, I think the safest thing is to have you and Silas come hide at the Wayne Manor or one of the League's hiding places. Just until the proceedings are done and we can protect you there."

"No." Bian immediately bit out. "I can't. Vince wants to find anything to make me look like a terrible mother and going to live with bachelor Bruce Wayne is one that he'll twist into saying it's an affair or that I'm partying over caring for my son. I'm not risking you guys, especially since Child Services could take Dick from you if things go wrong. I may ask you to house Si at some point if it gets rough, just to give him a break from all the media's focus on this."

"I appreciate that, but I want you to be safe." Bruce moved over to rest his hand on her shoulder. "This is a hard place to be in and we can hide you while J'onn or Zatarra give the illusion you're here."

"This is personal, not league business." Bee leaned back in her chair as she smiled at Bruce, moving her hand to rest on Bruce's. "This will be worth it. Si's actually trying to use his powers more and wants to go on patrol. He was asking so many questions lately about the villains and is probably going to be bouncing off the wall for the rest of the month until he goes out." Bee laughed as she added. "He's starting to get some confidence and speak up for things… unfortunately his big hurrah was that he never wanted cauliflower ever again."

Bruce couldn't help but laugh at this, however, he realized the tender moment as he pulled away a bit. "I'm so happy to hear this but you need to promise me you will know when to ask for help. I want to see both of you safe." Bruce had already scanned the letter with his phone as he set it down on the table. "In the meantime, I'll keep a closer eye on Vincent and talk with Chief Gordon. He's been looking into things under the radar for us since he's certain Vincent has some officers in his pay. All this could make a strong case for full custody."

Bian stood up as she went to stand in front of Bruce, her hand grabbing his arm. "Bruce, you need to promise me that if something happens you'll help Si."

"Nothing will happen, I promise. If needed ,we'll get Superman to come and protect you until everything blows over, or we'll-"

"Bruce." Bian butted in. "Promise me."

"Okay. I'll do what I can for Silas IF the time comes." Bruce spoke with a heavy air between the two as the adults looked at one another. Sure, they had once been romantically tied together when they first became superheroes, but now they were close friends at this point, especially after the pair learned one another's civilian identities. Bruce moved away first as they began to actually talk about what Bian had him there for.

* * *

It had been some time since Bruce and Bian left them to the office and Silas was wondering exactly what they were talking about but didn't also want to ask either adult. He focused on the game with Dick, who was leading the conversation by asking many trivial things while also talking about their shared classes. They had long since eaten the pastries as Silas dodged the zombie, trying to get up the pillar since they were so close to the end of level. Thankfully, just as the timer was in the final 5 seconds, the Level Cleared! Sign covered the screen as the boys screeched in joy as they heard laughter behind them.

Silas froze hearing this as he looked back to see Bruce watching them as Silas was trying to judge the situation with his eyes wide before he relaxed realizing he was doing nothing wrong. Bian was leaning against the wall as she smiled at Dick. "Hey Richard, what do you like on your pizza? Bruce and I were thinking of ordering some since it has been awhile since I've had some. I've heard Gotham's Original has some superhero themed ones but we can always make a custom one?"

Bian took an opportunity as she grinned at Richard. "Hey Richard, what do you like on your pizza? Bruce and I were thinking of ordering some since its been awhile. I've heard Gotham's Original has some superhero themed ones."

Silas immediately perked up and he noticed that Dick seemed to as well as they looked at one another as they decided to make their own customize their own since the pizza ideas were okay, but not the best. Dick kept remarking that having double black olives for Batman seemed wrong but Silas assumed it was mostly because Dick disliked olives like Bruce did.

The boys decided to get a pepperoni pizza with bacon, extra cheese and a stuffed crust from the pizza place and ate the salad that Bian made for them, insisting they needed some vegetables in their diet.

Silas had already gotten through two slices as Bee recounted stories to Dick that Silas had heard a few different times.

"You know, I have this great one with Silas when he was like 5-"

Silas knew immediately which story it was as he turned red in the face and looked at his mother with a 'please shut up' he gave her a bit of a warning. "Mom-" Although, he would admit he was still smiling at her as he was having a good day. Bian ignored him as seh leaned forward on the table, as if telling a secret to Dick.

"It was one of the first times Silas came with me to the movie set, since he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to be away from me."

Silas face was red as he stabbed his salad to manage his embarrassment. Wasn't feeling well was a great understatement, he was sick and ended up at some point having a fever over 100.

"He woke up from his nap and left my trailer to find me only to run into my stunt double and get so upset when he realized it wasn't me. Shelley had to bring Silas to me in the middle of filming for The Screaming Arrow." In his mind, he corrected her that no, he was rather lucid and confused in general and it wasn't that he confused who his mother was intentionally.

"Wait, wasn't that the one where you were dressed up in a super pointy outfit and ngoing for 'revenge'.

"Yes!" Bian offered, grinning even more. "Bruce, you should have told me Richard was a fan. I'd have brought him some old props or something."

"Actually, my parents were." Dick spoke, tone a bit softer. "We went to a few of your movies whenever we had a day off and the town was showing them."

"Right, you were in the circus." Bian offered, glancing over at Silas in a 'tread carefully' kind of look as Silas looked back at her, partially rolling his eyes since he knew to not ask things about dead parents so callously. "Tell me, were the elephants fun to be around?"

Dick seemed to look at Silas, as if also reading the room before he began to talk. Dick started a long ramble about how the circus was to work in and in great detail that intrigued Silas greatly. Dinner continued mostly like this, with Bruce thankfully adding some embarrassing stories about Dick to even the field before they left for that night. Silas and Dick were both grinning as they shared some messenger information and talking about hanging out at a lunch tomorrow.

When the door shut, Bian pulled Silas into a hug. "You made a friend!"

"Mom!" Silas whined, letting out a laugh. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is. I'm so happy you have someone."

"I mean, I have you-" Silas began as Bian laughed, hand ruffling his hair. "You'll want someone to talk to when you're a teen and embarrassed by me."

"What if I'm already embarrassed by you?"

"Hey!" Bian spoke, tone quite lighthearted as she pulled him in a hug. "You know I'm awesome."

"I know." Silas offered as he hugged his mother tightly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Gotham City, October 17th, 2008**

Silas was starting to feel comfortable with Dick more and more. Instead of hiding in the library, Silas was actually starting to take chances and sit in the cafeteria with Dick when he wasn't in his mathematics club. Unfortunately, this meant that he had to see his brother's friends and brother far more regularly. Just to be safe, he would always stop talking the moment he saw any of them since Silas didn't want Dick to say anything at the wrong moment or give more fuel to the flames.

Their classes were finishing for the day as Silas walked beside Dick, who was chatting about the 'stupid' assignment that they got for the weekend since Dick was sure that it was just to torment the children for being extremely troublesome this week.

"I mean, usually she at least gets us into groups discussing the chapters before we write about them."

"She's probably just getting a lot of the same opinions and perspectives, which can be dull." Silas offered as he saw Vince waiting for him near the doorway. "Anyways, I need to head out."

"Bian waiting for you?"

"No, Vince is." Silas offered. "I really need to go."

Dick let out a heavy sigh before shrugging. "I'll see you later at the ball."

"Totally." Silas offered as he left Dick to headed quickly to where his brother waited as Vince gave him a look of annoyance as the pair walked towards the car. Of course, their father wasn't in the car for them as they were driven home by their chauffeur. Vince sat far from Silas, staring at his phone the entire ride as Silas tried to occupy himself by looking out the window for the ride home. They lived outside of the city, on a property that had large gates at the front, with iron fence around the entire property- even to the woods behind it. It was in the same area as many of the other large families of Gotham but rarely did anyone visit.

It was a traditional Victorian style mansion that Silas was sure was haunted by his relatives of the past. The brothers were currently the thirteenth generation of Mayhews to live on the property in Gotham with portraits of the family throughout the house, reminding Silas constantly of the life he had to live up to. When they got home, Silas noticed the butler, Boris was waiting for them in the entranceway.

"Master Vincent and Master Silas. Your father would like to have a word with you. Immediately." Silas gulped as he nodded, setting his bag to the side near Vince's as they went to their father's office. Vince went in first after knocking as the two boys stood beside one another.

"Fix your posture." Vincent spoke as Silas knew immediately he was talking to him as Silas stood stiffer. "Now, tonight is an important night to show my newest partner that we value family since it is one of their core values and they're concerned over… recent incidents." Vincent spoke, squinting his eyes at Silas.

"Understood."

"Now, remind me again what you are going to do at this gala? Vincent?"

"Chat with the families of our partners, especially Mr. Lafayette's family to make them feel comfortable and if someone asks about the divorce emphasize it is a family matter that we would like to remain private."

"Good. Silas?"

"Only speak when spoken to with brief answers." Silas began. "And keep any attention off of myself."

"And if someone mentions _her?"_

"No comment."

Vincent seemed to wait a moment before accepting it as they were dismissed. Silas headed to his room, knowing they wouldn't be leaving for a couple hours and hiding in his room would be best. He locked the door behind him as he sat at his desk. Unlike his mother's place, this place had more colours on the walls but resembled photos of the older Victorian homes with solid oak furniture older than anyone in the house. It looked gorgeous but was completely void of emotion. No one would know anything about him from his room or that it was even being used since the bed was always made and things were tucked away.

While he was doing homework, his dinner arrived as Silas made a face at it. His father never wanted to eat before a gala, claiming he needed time to get ready. The meal itself was rather normal, as one of the usual meal of roasted potatoes, a salisbury steak and a heaping portion of cauliflower. His father had set meals that he liked and they would go through the rotation of them with the only change being if they went out for dinner or had guests over. Silas ate at it, even forcing himself to eat _some_ of the cauliflower before he pushed the plate away from him as he leaned back in the chair. Glancing to one of his walls, he noticed his suit was pressed and hung to wait for him to wear it.

He saw one of the staff, Chloe, came in to grab his plate as she looked at him. "Are you sure you don't want to eat some more?"

"No thank you."

"You cannot get big and tall if you don't eat."

"I'm fine Chloe, but thank you." Silas looked at the maid as she gave him a small smile.

"Alright, did you want me to put some snacks in your room for when you get home?"

"Yes please." Chloe was a trusted friend of his at this house and was kind enough to sneak different snacks into his room to eat since Silas didn't eat a lot of heavy foods like red meats and potatoes if he could help it.

"Okay, well you should get ready." Chloe mentioned as she headed out of the room with his plate as Silas got up to get ready. He put on the suit, which of course fit well since it couldn't possibly anything less with the image he was supposed to give off. It was a three piece suit with a grey shirt, white vest and dark green tie. Silas combed his hair, using gel to keep it flat to the side. He threw on his dress shoes before he headed down to sit inside the sitting room as he waited for his family.

The two older men came down as Silas noticed that they were matching in colour schemes for their three piece Junior was the most colourful with his dark green vest and and pale green tie with matching pocket kerchief. Vincent Senior wore his usual suit of black with a dark grey vest and dark green bow tie and dark grey kerchief.

Neither asked Silas if he was ready as they immediately walked over to where the limousine would be waiting for them. Silas followed suit as he caught their reflection in the windows of the limo.

Vincent Senior was an intimidating man who was tall and had a sturdy build considering the life of luxury and lack of physical labour he did. He was remarkably pale, regularly questioned in his youth if he were albino due to his skin tone and platinum hair. This combined with his sharp facial features almost made his dark brown eyes more striking

Vincent Junior, mainly referred to as Vince, took quite a bit after their father with general build, brow shape, chin, pale tone and striking eyes which were lighter than his father's. Instead of the curls of blond hair, he had straight dark brown hair and a beak like nose from his mother. Both had the cool undertones and no hint of smile lines showing on their face.

Silas felt quite insignificant in comparison. He was short, thin and had many soft features unlike the line of men on his father's side. He had the same blond curly hair and dark brown eyes, but his skin was pale with more of a gold undertone and eyes similarly shaped to his mother's.

The trio got into the limousine, with the Vincents sitting next to one another as they were talking about work and Silas took a seat on one of the side rows of seating as he buckled in and quietly listened to what the others had to say while working.

It seemed that Mister Lafayette worked on creating machinery to help with mining resources which Vincent was trying to expand upon in a few more countries. They continued this conversation for the entirety of the ride until they arrived to the Gotham Museum. It was a beautiful building with glass room additions that positively glowed in the moonlight. It was already bustling with the amount of people arriving as they waited in queue to be let out of the car.

Silas looked over as he noticed his father was getting quite impatient, grumbling that 'If they simply kept the standards from the good old days things wouldn't be like this.' Silas bit his tongue looking away from his father as he hoped everything would go smoothly.

When they got out of the car, Silas was the last to get out as they were overwhelmed by the reporters on the edges of the red carpet, held back by a velvet rope as there was flashing around them. Silas tried his best to keep a neutral face as he followed them up the stairs and into the ballroom where a crowd was already waiting for them.

Silas was amazed by how it was decorated. Around the room were large banners of photos from the exhibits, with a slideshow on one wall from the various events that the museum hosted. Around the edges were some exclusive artefacts from Gotham's history including dueling pistols. Everything was completely rushed as Silas noticed at a separate doorway were tour guides waiting, which led him to believe they were giving some tours. He smiled at this, hoping when his father and brother were distracted he could go through the newest exhibit. It would be at least a half an hour though.

Silas followed like an obedient puppy around his father and Vince for the first while until they met with Mister Lafayette and his family, but was clear that they took no notice to him after the introductory conversation. Silas stepped away to the nearest artefact as he read about it.

_This is the diary of Amity Arkham who was burned at the stake in the early 1620s after being accused of witchcraft by Edmunde Cobblepot and many members of the Dent family in Old Gotham. There is writings regarding her in the 'Book of Old Gotham' by Alienor Frych. She was accused of burning many buildings, including all of the barns and fields of Willheim Mayhew, the offices of the Waynes and many other colonists in the area. It is rumoured that she laid a curse upon her death. She was one of the few people who were actually burned in the United States for Witchcraft. It is argued that she may have not been given a fair trial and these accusations were due to civil unrest-_

"Dude, it's a weekend and you're busy reading?"

Silas jumped as he turned around like he was caught stealing something as he noticed Dick who was dressed up like Silas but with pops of red for his colour. "It's really fascinating." Silas offered. "It's about some of the witch trials in Gotham."

"There were witch trials here?"

"Yeah, a few."" Silas smiled as he pointed to the diary. "This is pretty fascinating though."

"Silas, who is this?" Vince's voice rang through as Silas paused before looking over to see his father and brother looking at him.

"He-This is D- Richard Grayson."

"Grayson?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Mayhew. I'm Bruce Wayne's ward and Silas' classmate." Dick offered as he held his hand out. Vincent looked at it for a moment, raising his brown slightly as he ignored the hand.

"I see." Vincent spoke as they were interrupted by Bruce.

"Vincent, I hope you're having an enjoyable evening."

"Yes, it is quite a gala." Vincent spoke as Silas gulped slightly. His dad was clearly annoyed. "I hadn't realized you got a ward?"

"Richard's been with me going on a year now. He's quite a bright boy." Bruce offered as he looked at the two boys. "While I have you though, I was hoping to discuss something that we didn't get to at the meeting, if you don't mind?"

"Of course not." Vincent answered as Bruce moved them a bit away to chat as Silas couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Wow. Your dad's something." Dick commented.

"He's definitely different than Bruce." Silas _knew_ that Bruce was simply continuing the partnership created by his father long ago with Vincent the third, but Silas wasn't sure why. Bruce could EASILY take over all the ventures himself and do it in his own style rather than Vincent's which was quite different.

Silas knew that Bruce was always the gentleman as he hoped things would go well. Vince had moved away to take a dance with Lafayette's daughter, Amie but was keeping an eye on Silas the entire time.

The crowd around them began to talk in hushed whispers as Silas looked around confused, it seemed that Dick was also aware of this as he finally nudged Silas, pointing towards the door. Like the answer to his prayers, Silas saw his mother as his eyes lit up in joy. Instead of her casual wear, she was dressed to match the celebrity that she was. Her long hair was loose with perfectly placed curls, smokey eyes and dark lips with a long sleeve red floor length gown with a lace covering. This was a mature outfit that gave her class and style that went above her years.

Silas couldn't help but rush over to her, hugging her tightly as she hugged him against him. "I missed you. What are you doing here?" Silas whispered.

"I missed you too baby." Bian whispered back. "I'm here for work, I think something's going to happen."

Silas tensed as he nodded as Bian handed him a small case. It was an earpiece that would be rather unremarkable and should match his skin tone and blend in so long as no one was staring into his ear. There was also a miniature mic that he could tuck under his collar. They had gone over this before as Silas pocketed it and moved away.

There was a firm hand on Silas' shoulder suddenly that firmly squeezed it as he knew that it was his father's.

"Bian. I didn't think you'd be attending this."

"Well, as a donor to the museum I was intrigued and my manager thought it would be great publicity." Bian spoke, her voice void of the warmth from moments ago as she talked with Silas. Looking at the small crowd, she smiled. "It's good to see you Bruce and Richard. I hope all is well?"

"Yes." Bruce spoke. "I was just catching up with Vincent actually."

Bian nodded as she looked at Vincent. "I do have something I must talk with you about since you are here. Why don't the boys go on a tour for the newest exhibit while we chat? It is a sneak peek before the release after all. Vince could even join?"

"He's currently occupied." Vincent spoke as Silas looked back at his father, trying to see what he'd say as he stayed as still as possible.

"Well, I think Dick would love to go and see that. He had been talking about the exhibit the whole way here and it's probably more exciting than the dancing and chatting going on here. Unfortunately, he doesn't know too many people here."

"I suppose that is fine." Vincent spoke, squeezing Silas' shoulder tighter before letting go.

"Come on Si, let's go." Richard was beaming. "Thank you!" he called back to Bian, Bruce and Vincent as Silas led the way to where the tour guides were. He knew to not look back since their conversation was going to be anything but pleasant. As they got to the tour guide, Silas rubbed his shoulder from the soreness of being grabbed as he quickly shoved the earpiece in and the mic on, feigning adjustment of his suit.

The tour guide, Ashley, was polite to them as she led the small talk for the group until a family joined their group as they headed out. They walked down the well lit hallway, stopping first at the new exhibit on the bog mummies. He was glad to see this since it was something that interested him due to the sheer amount of factors that had to go into this. He made sure to take his time reading the information cards as he distracted himself from the words probably being spoken in the ballroom. It also was a good way to kill time since it seemed the family that joined them were taking their sweet time.

Dick even seemed interested as he nudged Silas and pointed to the one mummy. "Man, that's just me when I stay up late watching tv."

Silas laughed at that as he pointed to a different one. "That reminds me of Mr. Hoots." Dick tilted his head as if thinking for a moment before nodding.

"It kind of does."

Soon, they left that room as they turned down a different hallway with Ashley remarking that they were heading towards the Egyptian mummies exhibit that was in the room made of glass that had decorations leading towards it. Silas heard some strange noises as he looked around in concern. There should be another group around, but it was silent in the direction they were heading to.

As they walked, Silas was sure something was wrong as they got only a few feet from the doors as suddenly the lights all turned out with the exhibit doors opening without the keycard,

The dim light of emergency lights barely gave any light to the dark hallway. "This isn't right-" Ashley spoke as the emergency lights suddenly went out on them and the exhibit doors slammed shut once more as a metallic bounce sound was heard as they were enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Taking his chance, Silas covered his mouth with his sleeve as he ran forward to the door as he felt for it before he turned on the comm. "Someone's breaking into the Egyptian exhibit and smoke bombed the hall. Going to investigate." He spoke quietly before phasing through the door and turned himself invisible.

Silas walked around the room carefully as he noticed in the corner was a group of hostages bound up and squinting trying to see as a group of men were working around.

"_We've got people holding hostages in the main room_. _Do not interact until you get assistance"_

"_But-" _

"No buts."

Silas went around to get more intel as he then carefully walked towards where the weapons were stashed as he tried to quietly move as he did his best to disable them or at the very least put the safeties on to give him more time.

He noticed Penguin was standing on a box it seemed barking out orders to the men as Silas realized that this was the more important part of the haul than the gala. That was to be a distraction, he supposed.

He jumped down as he went to the glass doors and opened it enough to slip through as he saw the henchmen that were already incapacitated to the edge of the room as he raised a brow. Penguin was standing on a box as he barked out orders from the other side of the room.

"Hurry up! Lark's only going to be holding everyone off in the main room for a few more minutes." Silas walked over carefully, trying to figure out a way to incapacitate him when he heard a laughter.

"Hey Penguin, didn't you know this is a tour area only and I don't see your attendant."Ghost saw the birdarang as Penguin ducked, yelling as he flailed his umbrella afterwards after squacking to the others.

"Bats is close! Get what you've grabbed and get out!" Penguin began to shout as Silas took the opportunity as the man was distracted, he put his hands on the top of the box, focusing hard as Penguin suddenly let out a shriek as he fell through it before Silas let go. It seemed that he was stuck inside as Silas let out a sigh of relief

He looked around to see the henchmen were heading towards the broken window as Robin seemed to wrangle the men as Silad glanced up to see the pair of heroes who fell in from an upper window as Silas let out a sigh of relief.

"That was awesome with Penguin, Phas!" Robin yelled out, sounding exciting as Phasma let out a cheerful laugh while hitting one of the last henchmen with a well aimed energy beam.

"Well, I can't take credit for that Rob."

"What? Then who?" Batman cut off the conversation as Batman let the police in as Robin was looking around. Silas glanced at his mother as he walked over, tapping her shoulder twice before trying to slip out of the room. .

He could hear her as he left as he waited outside the door to overhear the conversation. "Well, I thought you were so great I wanted to help someone and become a mentor. My protege is amazing so far, and goes by Ghost." Silas was grinning ear to ear, not that anyone could see that, from hearing this as he continued to spy.  
"Ghost? Wait, are they _actually_ a ghost?"

"No, he's very much alive. But you'll see why that is his name soon. Next patrol we're both on you can meet him."

Silas forced himself away as he knew the lights were coming back on as he went to what would likely be a realistic hiding spot for a child as he hovered there until he saw Ashley from earlier walking around with a policewoman who was shining a flashlight around.

"Boys?!" Ashley called as Silas stood up, raising his hand. "I'm over here."

"Over here!" Dick seemed to call from a different side of the room as Ashley seemed to let out a relieved sigh as the pair went to the light as they were led through the hallway towards the gallroom. "We've already brought everyone else back and got them into the room. We got lucky, since Lark was stealing everyone's riches in there and we were just left in the dark with smoke. If we had gone any further, we could have been taken hostage in the exhibit they were robbing."

"Is everyone safe at least?" Silas questioned as they walked.

The policewoman responded. "Nothing serious. I must say though, you two must always win at hide and seek, we were look for you for over ten minutes. I swore we checked those spots."

"We must not have heard you from nerves."

"Maybe. But now, let's get you to your guardians."

The commotion, to the surprise of no one, put an end to the gala as people were desensitized to this kind of behaviour but simply annoyed them now. It was almost 50 percent of them that had already experienced this each time thanks to the plethora of villains.

As they walked through the doorway, the hall lit up with a steady stream of people walking through one door as they got into the room only to be pulled into a tight hug by Bian. Silas and Dick both hugged her back for a moment.

"There you two are! I was so worried since we couldn't get out of here and they couldn't find you." Bian pulled away as she fretted over the two up and down to see if they were hurt- which was a great cover since she knew that at least Silas had been fine.

Dick finally answered, pulling away slightly. "We're fine, we just hid out the whole time in the darkness."

"Ye-yeah." Silas offered, hugging his mother again as he heard the interruption of an annoyed voice barking out at the trio as Silas looked over first to see his brother who was storming over.

"Silas." he snarled, grabbing Silas' arm as he began to tug him away even when Silas stumbled a bit. "We've waited long enough on you. Father says it is time to go."

"Don't be so rough with him." Bian immediately spoke, her voice stern with a calmness, staring at him as she took a step closer. Silas knew that she was annoyed but trying to not make a scene.

"You do NOT get to tell me what to do, Tramp."

"Guys-" Silas spoke as he tried to pull the focus between the two.

"Wrong. My son, MY business."

"Well this is father's week, so now WE are leaving because we've suffered long enough dealing with you and waiting for him."

"I'll come, just let me say goodbye first-"

"No." Vince looked at Silas as the younger boy felt his stomach sink as he looked in his brother's eyes. "Father's already in a terrible mood. We will not be making him more displeased by waiting. Now come."

"Okay…" Silas spoke as he was roughly pulled away before following in step as he stared forward. He didn't want to make a scene and it felt best in that moment to go with Vince.

The car ride home was tense the entire time, with unspoken words and Silas was called to the office almost immediately.

Vince gave a look, keen on spying in the room as Silas followed his father to the office and shut the door behind him.

Vincent was glaring as he stayed silent for a moment. It was tense as he stood there, waiting for his father to speak. "You made a fool of me."

"I'm sorry." Silas offered, trying to keep his tone smooth.

"What do you think people are going to think from how excited you were to see your mother?" Vincent continued as he leaned forward. "Then people needed to chase after you during the robbery. All of this is embarrassing and I have enough pressure from the press." Vincent glanced back as he pulled up a piece of paper. "Then I get this email about your attitude at school about you cursing and arguing with Vincent's friends? They aren't some moronic scholarship child, you need to treat them with respect."

"I stood up for myself. They were harassing me and I decided it wasn't acceptable." Silas blurted out before regretting it.

There was a loud slam on the desk as Silas winced. "Did I ASK for excuses? No." Vincent was glaring as Silas continued listening. "Let me make myself clear, I will _not_ tolerate you're acting out. I have an image to maintain and you are tarnishing it with every breath, you are enough of a disgrace and need to fix it."

Vincent stood up as he walked up to Silas, towering over Silas' 4 foot 3 inch frame with by over 2 feet. "Mayhew men are strong. We do not get _bullied," _he spoke the tone for bully clearly mocking Silas' tone. "Since we do not show are weaknesses. You're a namby pamby who thinks the world gives you things for being kind. That's how the naive think. We do not ask, we _take _what we want and throw away what we don't. I made the mistake of not throwing you and your mother away the moment I found out she got knocked up but you will NOT make this worse on me."

Vincent grabbed Silas shoulder tightly again, not caring if it would hurt his son. "I've worked too hard for a Dink like you to ruin things. You're a disappointment but I shouldn't have expected anything less to come from a whore like your mother.

"Don't talk about my mom like that!" Silas snapped as he felt himself shoved back, landing on the ground roughly as he looked up as he scrambled himself up, bracing himself. "She's strong without having to act like a jerk."

"Excuse me?" Vincent spoke as he stepped forward as Silas stepped back until his back was against the wall. Vincent's face was red as he began screaming profanities as he slammed his hand against the wall above Silas' head. "You want to say that again?"

Silas gulped as he was overcome by fear as he shook his head, backing down. Vincent smirked in victory as he stepped back. "That's what I thought, you're spineless. Get out of my sight."

Silas scrambled away, rushing up to his room as he slammed the door behind him, locking it as he leaned against the door trying to catch his breath as his emotions were getting the best of him. Squeezing his eyes shut, Silas resisted trying to cry as he crossed his arms on his knees. He just needed to make it through the week's worth of dinner, since he doubted his father would want to seem him at any time.

Later that night, as Silas was getting ready for bed, he heard his door opening. He swore he had locked the door but guessed he may not have done it correctly as Vince came in. He was in his nightwear already as he looked at Silas.

"You really fucked up tonight." Silas ignored him as he moved around his room trying to get ready. "But you do know that you have a choice on making this worse or not."

Silas paused as he looked up into Vince's eyes. "What?"

"If you tell anyone about tonight, then dad's only going to get more mad. You don't want that, do you?"

"No." Silas admitted, staring at his brother's face. "But-"

"Simply, do not speak of it. Keeping it in the family is the best after all." Vince's tone was flat as he looked at Silas. "Understand?"

"Yes." Silas immediately responded.

"Good, now go to bed."

"Kay." Silas mumbled as Vince smiled as he turned around and went out the door as Silas went into his bed.

* * *

**Gotham City, October 20, 2008**

Silas was sitting in the library as he had the math textbook out in front of him with Dick looking at him strangely. "What?" Silas asked.

"You okay man?"

"Yeah."

"Well, just it seemed Vince was mad Friday and I can't imagine your dad was any happier."

"It's fine. I just went home to sleep afterwards." Silas offered as Dick raised a skeptical brow but shrugged it off since Silas seemed to go back to the math since he was struggling with the newest math formulas. "Honestly, the strangest thing was just my weird dreams of orange eyes."

"That does sound weird." Dick remarked as he leaned forward. "Maybe it has some meaning or something?"

"I mean, I also dreamed of Penguin trying to scale a pyramid, so I doubt it." Silas awkwardly laughed as he tried to get back to the math as the pair ate lunch while Dick began taking the lead to go over everything.

* * *

**Gotham City, October 24, 2008**

Silas was nervous as he looked at the box with his suit in it ahead of him. He had done measurements once more earlier that month, but that was different since he was _now_ getting to wear it and go out in it.

Bian seemed to notice his nerves as she moved to sit across from him, setting his dinner plate near him. "It's understandable to be nervous."

"I'm not-"

"Just think, you've already done your first mission baby and today is just a regular patrol."

"I guess." Silas offered as he moved the box to his side as Bian pushed the plate to him.

"Now eat, you can't go out on an empty stomach." Bian smiled as she dug into her own food. It was garlic noodles and buffalo wings, both actually cooked from scratch as Silas ate happily. "So, any big questions?"

"You said to Robin we'd meet with him at some point, is that tonight?"

"It is. I have to give Batman a USB and it's probably good to introduce yourself to them. Then, we'll be on patrol in the west side." Bian pointed to the box with one hand as she was picking noodles up with chopsticks using the other. "Your tools are also in there."

"Tools?"

"Standard things. Grappling hooks, a small knife, cuffs, radio, flashlight. You know some basics." Bian responded as if it were a casual thing to ask about. She slurped her noodles as Silas was eyeing the box, as he resisted the urge to go through it while eating. He ate quickly, even getting some seconds of the wings before the pair threw their dishes in the dishwasher.

"Okay, get ready and we'll head out."

Unlike in her day to day, Bian was quite organized as Phasma. She knew where every weapon, suit and attachment was in the area for a quick change and organization and it was all even tracked in for inventory purposes. Instead of styling her hair loose, Bian just threw it in a ponytail at the nape of her neck as she got ready to go out.

Silas took his suit to his room as he changed into the main suit but found himself distracted by the objects on his belt. It was a lot more lightweight than he thought they'd be, especially the flashlight as he carefully set them into their set places on his dark utility belt, taking a few times when he put the belt on to practice what was where for quick draw.

He was muttering to himself a few more times until he felt comfortable with knowing what he had available to him as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Silas felt different looking at himself in the suit, especially without the mask off. If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn someone photoshopped his head onto a hero's body.

The suit was quite similar to his mother's own Phasma design. His suit was mainly all pale grey, with the arms, shoulder and hoodstyle mask that was a medium grey with a gold clasp. His belt, glove and most of his legs from the diagonal cut mid-thigh were dark grey but then covered with the lighter grey boots that Silas realized had a bit of lifts in them to make him a couple inches taller than before. He fiddled with the hood mask as he debated if he wanted to see himself fully costumed yet.

"How do you feel?" Silas heard as he looked to the doorway. Bian was standing there, holding her eye mask in hand as she smiled at him. Her suit had the same colour theme going on but was only a high collar light grey suit, with dark grey side panels running all the way down her sides from the armpit with the medium grey boots. Her gloves and belt were the medium grey and her mask was completely white, including over the eyes.

"Good. Just going over everything." Silas offered. Bian walked over, hugging him against her chest as they looked at the mirror together. "How was your first mission again?"

"I nearly fell off a building since I stumbled."

"What?" Silas asked, voice squeaking in nerves.

"I tried a flashy cape, never again." Bian laughed as she pulled away. "Okay, so five minutes and we'll head out, okay? Meet me in my office."

Silas nodded as he looked at himself a few minutes more before going into the office as he put an eye mask on before covering it with the hood. This just added for an extra layer of protection and should he wish, he could have his eyes showing.

Phasma was holding a USB in her hand as she heard Silas. "Okay, Ghost. Your comm system is over there." Phasma pointed to the table where he went to get the comm system hooked up and put the little tablet computer like device in his pocket. It reminded him quite a bit of the palm pilot his mother used to use.

"Good?"

"Yes."

Phasma nodded as she went over to the sliding glass door towards the balcony. It was quite high up without any facing windows towards them as Bian shut the sliding door behind him as she set the security, locked so that it would only open to their identification.

Ghost followed after Phasma as they went up to the rooftop to start their patrol with an aerial view. Phasma told Ghost that they did have access to a motorcycle if neeeded but she felt this was better for the night.

They headed out until they reached rooftop that had large fans and satellite dishes as they made themselves comfortable until Robin and Batman arrived.

The caped duo came from seemingly nowhere as Ghost watched with a sense of awe. It was strange to think that he was _probably_ going to be ally to him should Batman trust him.

Phasma was the first to speak. Ghost was surprised that his mom's tone was different. Instead of her bubbly tone, it was calmer and more monotoned. Batman, Robin. I'd like to finally introduce you to Ghost." Phasma spoke as she gestured to the boy beside him.

"It's good to finally meet you." Robin offered first, stepping forward as he held out his hand. Ghost didn't hesitate as he took the hand in a confident grip, shaking ith.

"I think you mean to finally see me when we meet, right?" It was a tease and Ghost almost regretted saying it until Robin let out a laugh.

"I guess that's more accurate, so what's your deal?"

Ghost looked at Phasma who was beaming proudly with a hand on her hip, as Ghost smiled before talking. "Density shifting and invisibility."

"He's good at the density shifting, I think he could get through a stone wall quicker than the Flash." Phasma beamed as Ghost shot her his '_mooooom' _look and even with his face covered in the mask, she knew that he was getting at as she chuckled.

"Well, here's the drive, Bats. If you need help with the information just let me know."

"Thank you." Batman spoke. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

"Right, crime to fight and whatnot." Phasma offered as Ghost knew it was time for the two to go as the two headed to the West.

When they got home, Silas was so happy but also exhausted as they got into Phasma's office. Silas peeled off his mask and hood as he smiled at his mom who was taking a seat in her chair. "So?"

Silas wanted to be calm but immediately began to ramble. "That was so cool! I can't believe we got to stop a robbery and you were so cool. LIke better than any character you've ever played on screen. Like when you punched that guy and he fell back into the garbage can and got stuck. Then with that car that's brakes stopped working. It was so cool!"

Bian was smiling as she leaned forward. "So, what I'm getting is you thought it was cool."

"Yeah." Silas offered as he couldn't help but yawn.

"Well, you did good tonight baby, go shower and get to bed. Its late."

"Kay." Silas conceded, glad his mother suggested this as he went to shower and the minute his head hit the pillow, he was out.

* * *

**Gotham City, October 30, 2008**

Silas was pulled out of the school all day to go through everything for the court proceedings as he leaned in the office chair, trying to tug at his collar and loosen it. It was what his father had told him to wear for this. He was warm in the small boardroom as he waited for his parents to finish talking with the judge. Both had already been spewing venom at one another in the hallway and he had spoken with the judge confidentially but he doubted it would have done nothing as he heard Vince immediately talking with the judge in the hallway afterwards that made Silas nervous.

Vince was sitting across from Silas in the room as they waited, he wasn't sure why to be honest Vince was there since he was not involved in this. After all, his mother would have Vincent over for a singular weekend a month with half of all breaks from school with her since she moved to California. He supposed they wanted to get another opinion on housing arrangements but he didn't think that Vince could be a good person to talk to.

Vince was writing something into a notebook as Silas tapped his pen against the pad.

"Do stop that, will you?"

Silas did so as he tried to resist the urge to apologize; after all they weren't at his dad's and Silas knew that this was something far too small for his brother to bring up to his father.

Soon, the hallway was erupting with the sound of cursing and yelling between two people as Silas knew that meant his parents were coming back.

The door opened as Silas looked up. "Alright Silas, it's time to go."

"He's going home with me."

"Like hell he is." Bian turned as she crossed her arms, looking up at Vincent. "Your custody doesn't start until tomorrow after school, _like usual, _so I am taking Silas home."

"You're really going to push this issue for just a day." Vincent asked unimpressed as she glared at him with a cold look as Silas made a face before he decided to speak up.

"I- I, I have a school project at mom's I need to finish anyways for tomorrow. I'll go home with Vince tomorrow."

Vincent turned to glare at his son for a moment as he turned around and left. Vince rushed after their dad. Silas looked up at his mother who was fumbling with her hair yet again as Silas stood up. "So… back to school?" Silas asked as Bian shook her head.

"There's no point, you'd barely be there for a singular class. I was going to head to the Wayne Manor if you felt like coming."

"Sounds good mom." Silas went with her as they headed down to the underground parking lot and they got into the car. As they did, Silas moved to pull off his dress shirt, revealing the t shirt underneath as he threw the dress shirt, tie and suit in the back as he moved to sit on the seat in the car. It seemed that Bian was taking a moment outside of the car texting someone before getting into the car with a heavy sigh.

The car ride was mainly silent as they headed over to the Wayne Manor as Bian parked in her usual spot before they went in with Alfred welcoming them immediately.

Bruce came down a moment later as he looked at Bian and then Silas.

"Silas, do you mind if I talk with Bruce in private for a moment?" Silas looked between the two as he shrugged.

"If Master Silas would like he could join me in the kitchen as I prepare a late lunch?"

Silas took the offer immediately as he followed the butler to the kitchen and sat immediately on a stool. He watched Alfred moved around the kitchen as he brought a drink over to Silas who was trying to figure out what to talk to with Alfred. Eventually, the pair got into conversations on how Alfred's childhood was and raising Bruce as Silas nibbled on his lunch. It was later in the day as Silas had made himself comfortable in Bruce's television room to watch cartoons since Bian mentioned they'd be talking a while more. As he watched television, he heard the door open as he saw Dick come in. "I'm guessing things didn't go well?"

"Nope." Silas responded as he sighed and leaned against the armrest of the chair. "Not at all."

Dick moved to sit down near him as he gave Silas a soft smile. "I'm sorry to hear that, do you need to talk?"

Silas looked at Dick as the word vomit came out. "You know, I think this whole process would be easier if everyone could be civil. If I have to hear the insults and comments about each other any more, I'm done. I know mom's trying to not tell me about them but then I hear them anyways. Even though I talked to the judge and counsellors about being happier with mom, they still decided on equal time split custody and Vince was there for literally _no_ reason. It was like he was rubbing it in the face that 'if you keep him home with dad he'll turn out like me' as if that's a good thing!" Groaning, Silas grabbed a pillow and shoved his face in it.

"I see."

"I just wish people would listen to me instead of continuing this…"

"I get it and it sucks." Dick immediately offered as Silas was pulled tightly into a hug by Dick as SIlas clung tightly to him. It was still a new friendship but Silas knew that it was a good friendship. Eventually, Dick moved to put the television onto a PG-13 show as the boys relaxed. Silas listened as Dick brought him up to speed from what went on at school including some girl named Maddi who apparently threw an entire plate of food onto Barbara Gordon, an upper year, for the fact she proved Maddi was cheating off Barbara.

It was a few episodes in that Silas decided to finally go check on his mother and BRuce as they went down to the sitting room where the pair were talking in hushed tones that immediatley stopped when they saw Bruce and Dick arrive.

There was the loud ding from the grandfather clock as Bian looked up and let out a heavy sigh.

"We should head home. By the time we get through dinner, homework and prep for tomorrow, it'll be bedtime." Silas knew that she would likely go out onto patrol that night but he figured it would be a solo night since it was a school night and she had a rough day.

"You're more than welcome to stay here for dinner." Bruce offered as Silas shook his head in conjunction with his mother.

Bian spoke. "I appreciate it, but I think we should head home."

"Thank you for having us Bruce." Silas offered politely as his mother began making her way to him.

"You're always welcome here. Both of you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Edited: February 25, 2020 - **_**So I noticed a continuity error I made over the summer of 2009 so I have adjusted it so the scene that caused the issue has been moved and fixed the pieces to be in chronological order. There are no actual edits to the writing for chapter 3 and 4 aside from order. **_

**January 2, 2009 Gotham City**

Ghost was creeping through the dusty and used vents of the building as he made a face of annoyance as he continued going through it. He strongly disliked dusty and dingy places, but it seemed that he was going to be visiting all of them if work kept up like it was. There was someone who set fire to two different buildings in Gotham with the only connection being a singular man who had family that died in both buildings; in fact there was three separate housing accidents resulting in a death somehow. The man, Joe Rigger, was clearly seeking revenge.

Phasma and Ghost were the two to initially take on the case and weren't even sure if he would strike again so soon, knowing that people were onto him. However, they couldn't take that risk. Phasma was currently at the potential location that Joe Rigger was hiding out in with his supplies since there was no indication that he had left. Batman and Robin were still doing their patrol out in the field, trying to prevent any indication that something was amiss.

Ghost, however, had heard people talking about the strange repairman going down to the basement and he decided to follow. However, he knew going right behind on the same path would raise suspicions to the man, so he took the vents.

"_Ghost, any updates?"_

"_I hear something about a strange repairman and then some noises. I'm going to check it out."_ he whispered into the comm as he took a breath, shifting so he dropped down and the moment he was through the vent, Ghost switched to invisibility so as to not be detected as he looked around the room. It was a make shift work room for a repairman full of tools with the only light coming from a singular light bulb left hanging from the centre of the room above a table.

There was a man working on the table with a large canister. The man had dark armour that seemed thick with thicker cover pieces on the joints. He had his back to Ghost, completely focused on the work at hand rather than his surroundings. Ghost could smell the unmistakable bitter smell of gasoline that was filling the room as he walked around carefully to try and see if he could see more. The man, who Ghost was convinced was Joe, or the Firebug according to the media, was focused through his eyes. His helmet was large with large reflective eyes. Silas could see there was a singular tank that had a large hose connected to his helmets that was attached to his body and then the ones he was working with on the table.

Ghost couldn't help but notice that he also bore two medals on his chest. One of a blue ribbon and one of a red ribbon that matched up to some of the ones in which Joe had achieved as a soldier.

He was certain this was Firebug as he knew the tanks were the source of the gasoline smell as he decided to get out of there to contact Phasma. He went towards the nearest door as he glanced back to make sure that Firebug was not watching as he dropped his invisibility so he could phase through the door as he moved a few feet away from the door as he began to speak.

"_Firebug is here, Phasma. He has a large fireproof looking suit and tanks that he's filling. There was definitely a gasoline smell in the air. He's in a room with one door. Should I seal the door until you can arrive."_

"_Don't alarm him to your presence, I'm contacting Batman and am on my way. In the meanwhile, get out of there and ensure the nearby fire hydrants are open."_

"_Roger."_ Ghost offered as he let out a yelp as he saw the door being thrown open.

"WHO ARE YOU?" The man bellowed through his mask which seemed to make it that much more intimidating as Ghost's eyes widened, since he was sure the man wasn't looking at the time, which meant he likely heard Ghost talking.

"Mister Rigger?" Ghost questioned as the man did not answer as he lunged at Ghost, knocking the pair to the floor and without hesitation, Ghost shoved the man off of him with his legs before swinging a fist to throw the man off as Ghost scrambled himself up as he began to run down the hall.

"_Phasma, I've been spotted!"_

Ghost ducked down a side path as he turned himself invisible with his back pressed against the wall as he took in a deep breath. He wasn't a strong fighter, especially against a man who was military trained and more than double the weight of the boy.

He noticed the smell of gasoline in the air once more as he saw Firebug going through the hallway beginning to spray the chemical. However, this was sticking to things and didn't have the same consistency of gas as Ghost called Phasma once more.

"_What smells like gas and is sticky?"_

"_GHOST, NHẬN RA." _Phasma screeched out into his comm, nearly deafening him with her voice no longer calm and leaving no room to argue. (GHOST, GET OUT)

When she got this way, Ghost knew that this was a non-negotiable matter as he took a deep breath, knowing it would be better to get out even if meant being spotted again. Ghost turned himself mostly intangible- minus his feet as he made a full blown sprint towards the stairs, not caring as the man yelled and threw things at him since Ghost could easily outrun him.

The moment Ghost got up to the main floor, he immediately pulled one of the fire alarms as the screeching erupted through the building as people began to come out of their rooms.

"_We're a minute out."_

"_I'm going to help people evacuate. I'm already here and there's civilians."_ Ghost began to run once more as he went all the way up to the top floor as he began pounding on the doors as he made his way down the hallway as he made sure people were actually leaving the building. He could smell the gasoline smell with each floor closer to the ground level.

As he got down to the tenth floor, he was greeted by Robin running up to him holding his wrist up with a computer screen and wearing strange green goggles.

"Phas and Bats are covering the floors below us and the top floors are all cleared, come on." As they got to the main floor, the pair helped those who were having difficulties since they could see the smoke that was starting to pour out of the basement.

Ghost focused on getting everyone outside and a safe distance away, tucked into the lobby of a hotel room. The front desk manager was immediately present to argue with them.

"They need to go."

Robin was a bit away as Ghost looked at the manager with a shocked expression before he continued. "Their home is on fire. They're staying here. If you have a problem, take it up with Batman and Phasma. Or if you'd like, I could call The Daily Planet and tell them that your hotel company refuses to help those in need?" Ghost was surprised by the stern voice that was coming out of him. It was something he didn't even know he could muster since it was cold and left no room to argue- quite like his father's annoyed tone which wanted to make Ghost cringe. He read the name of the brand on the manager's cardigan as he made a face. It was a company that was owned by one of the Mayhew side businesses.

The manager seemed to concede as he sighed. "Take them to conference room B." Ghost nodded as he called out to Robin.

"_Conference Room B."_ They moved everyone and ensured that they were comfortable with space between each family as the boys let out a sigh when they got to the other side of the closed doors.

"Have you heard from Batman?"

"No, I take it you haven't heard from Phasma?"

"Nope." Ghost offered as he pressed a finger against his comm as he took a moment to breath as he spoke into the comm. "Phas? Where are you?"

There was no response still as Ghost looked over at Robin who seemed to be going through the same motions. Just as Ghost was going to speak, there was a loud blast noise and mild shaking of the ground as Ghost's eyes immediately widened.

"I'm going to the building."

"Ghost no, we need to stay here. The fire crews are already on the scene and reports say that Batman and Phasma were spotted a few blocks away."

"Okay." Ghost conceded as he crossed his arms. He knew that the blast noise and shake was likely from the flashover that happened and potentially structural collapse of the building. He decided to bottle up his emotions as he went back into the room and saw a lot of kids upset. Ghost went over to them smiling as he found a leftover chart paper and markers in one of the desks as he set up an area to draw with them. He asked them what kind of superheroes they'd be or powers they'd have as Robin eventually joined in.

Any chance he could get away though, he called for Phasma again on his comm as he looked for a sign.

There were a few moments of silence before a voice was heard on the comm. "Batman and I are chasing Firebug. Is everyone safe?"

"Yes. We're keeping them at Smithson's Hotel on Ranager Street. It's a safe distance away while emergency services handle it. Robin is trying to figure out housing arrangements."

"Batman's contacted a friend and is working on a temporary solution now."

"Sounds good."

* * *

Silas returned home a few hours later after everyone had been assigned into a hotel room with some supplies for the night. He had even ran himself to make sure that people had necessary medicine doses and supplies for medical conditions and babies. Phasma knew this and encouraged him to go home for the night. He was grimy from the residue and smoke- his suit at least five shades darker than what it was earlier that day. He hoped it would come out as he locked the door behind him and made his way out of the office towards the bathroom so he could change and shower.

He took an extremely long shower and scrubbed at himself until his skin was raw although he still felt like he smelled mildly of smoke as he got out, bagging his suit so that the smell would hopefully be contained. Out of paranoia, he brought his communicator with him so he could be alerted to any page that was sent and if he needed to get out.

Silas was comfortable in his pajamas as he took his laptop out of his room and headed to the living room with a small detour to grab some snacks from the kitchen.

He set the snacks on the table as he got the television onto a game show to distract his mind before opening his laptop.

Tomorrow he had a big day. It was going to be his first sleepover at Dick's house to do a pseudo celebration for New Years since both Ghost and Phasma wanted to be out on patrol New Years Eve due to the increased amount of intoxication. He wanted to check if Dick had finally gotten back to him- which apparently he had not too long ago.

**D: Hey, you still good for coming over at noon tomorrow?**

**Whatever time after then is good, just let us know.**

**So excited!**

_S: 12pm sounds perfect. Let me know if you want anything picked up._

**D: Everything's all set. Just need you. See you tomorrow**

_S: See you then_

He smiled at this as he closed skype and put his laptop to the side, periodically checking it to see if there were any news updates.

* * *

It was a few hours after Phasma had sent Silas home that she got back, it had been a long night and she was glad it was resolved. She came through the office, locking it again as she pulled the mask off of her face and dropped it to her desk with her comm and utility belt.

Bian headed out of the office as she sighed and undid her ponytail, it was a long night and her head was starting to ache from the tight low ponytail. She was going to head to Silas' room when she heard the television on as she changed direction to the living room. Sure enough, Silas was on the couch sprawled out with the quilt tangled up around him as slept soundly. On the television, she noticed a commercial news break playing on what she noticed was the Games Network.

_There was a fire on the Haas Boulevard today displacing a total of forty seven people. Thankfully, there were no casualties thanks to Batman and Phasma with their sidekicks. Billionaire Philanthropist Bruce Wayne has stepped in to pay to put everyone up in a hotel until the city is able to either rebuild or relocate everyone. It is asked at this time for any donations to be taken to St James Anglican Church to replace all that was lost in the two fires."_

Bian was walked over to sit beside Silas as she smiled at him. Silas was deeply asleep and barely even stirred when she was moving around cleaning up. She took the prawn crackers, cookies and the empty iced tea can to the kitchen, tucking the recycling away as she then headed back and shut Silas' laptop then lowered the television's volume. Bian looked over again as she noticed that Silas was still fast asleep as she pulled the quilt off of the arm chair and laid it over Silas who seemed to snuggled under the blankets almost immediately out of comfort.

She took a seat in the armchair, looking over at the couch as she let out a heavy sigh while leaning her elbows on her thighs as she took a moment to think about everything. New Years had just happened and over the past year so much had happened for her and Silas. She actually divorced Vincent and got her and Silas out of the house; or at least got Silas out for half the time. Working as Phasma had become regular again, and it felt great- especially since she got to share this with Silas. However, she saw the exhaustion in Silas's face when he didn't think she was looking. It was always the worst on the nights he came to her place. He'd immediately nap and insist on taking patrol. It was the same when he came back earlier that week. Instead of the normal week, Silas spent a week and a half with his dad for the Christmas holidays, coming back on December 31st. He arrived at her house for 10 in the morning and slept until 6pm.

She would rarely note anything positive about Vincent, but she could say that he did make an effort for Christmas with his entire family that could make it. In the week leading up to Christmas, Vincent had gone to at least five different holiday events and charities with the boys in tow. Bian also knew her son was an introvert and was exhausted after one event; let alone five and Christmas. So, when Silas came to her house practically bouncing out of his skin in anticipation for patrol, how could she say no?

Bian noticed that Silas stirred in his sleep as Bian gave the boy a soft smile, one he couldn't see as she leaned over very carefully to press a kiss to his forehead. "Sleep tight baby." She whispered tenderly. "I love you."

* * *

When Silas woke up the next morning, he was awoken to the smell of pancakes as he stretched looking around. He must have fallen asleep on the couch and Bian put blankets on him. Getting up, Silas headed to the kitchen where sure enough Bian was actually cooking waffles in the waffle maker. They were a darker brown than a diner may have but it was better than their previous attempts at cooking-probably since it was a 'just add water' mix and a waffle maker that told you when to open or close with a light but hey, progress is progress.

Bian pushed a plate towards Silas of three waffles as he immediately covered them in syrup and grabbed some juice before sitting down to eat them. Bian followed a bit after as she sat across from him at the table with a large cup of coffee.

After a few bites, Silas decided to break the silence. "Did the mission go well?"

Bian finished chewing as she shrugged. "We were able to stop him before he could ignite a third fire but he didn't go without a fight. Bats and I got him in custody now."

"Good to hear."

"How did things go with the people?"

"Went well but the manager tried arguing with me about homing them until I had to threaten calling the Daily Planet?"

"Well, it all worked out in the end." Bian offered. "Enough of work talk though. What time do we need to head over to Bruce's?"

"Anytime after noon."

"So, we won't need to rush too much." Bian looked at the clock, seeing that it was just after ten in the morning. "We could go to get some stuff for the sleepover? Snacks or some movies."

"Dick said he had everything set but we still could."

"Good, we'll go to the store, Nations. Why don't we leave in half an hour?"

Silas nodded as he shoved a giant mouthful of waffle in his mouth. "Sounds good." He tried speaking through his full mouth.

"You keep eating those big bites and you'll choke." Bian teased as Silas rolled his eyes at her. He knew she was telling him to slow down but he was excited.

They headed out soon after with a dufflebag of supplies as they made their way to Nations for snacks, far more than any young kids could possibly eat in a night but gave them plenty of options.

As they drove to Wayne Manor, Silas was practically bouncing in his seat. This was his first sleepover. He had heard of these and seen them in movies but to actually participate in one would be a whole other thing.

"You haven't told me the big plan for tonight, what's going on?"

"All I know is we'll watch some movies and that's it. Dick is keeping it pretty tight lipped."

"Well, if Bruce has anything to do with it, I'm sure it'll be spectacular." Bian mused as she took a sip of tea before setting it back down in the cupholder. "But just remember, I know you are going to have fun but if you need anything, just call me."

"Yes mom," Silas began, sounding a bit annoyed from her tone as she cut him off.

"Si, I'm serious. I don't need you to tell me a reason or anything. Just call me and I'll get you no matter what time it is."

"Mom it'll be fine." Silas laughed as he looked at her. "This is my best friend and Bruce. I appreciate the concern but this is going to be great!" He paused before adding. "Honestly, I'm sure Bruce would find it cool if you slept over too?"

Bian couldn't help but let out a huge snort as she looked over at Silas with an amused expression. "I think it's a little early for me to start having any sort of sleepovers with anyone." There was a tone in her voice of humour as Silas was confused.

"Huh?"

"You'll understand when you're older baby."

Silas paused, as he shook his head. "I'm not sure if I want to." Silas admitted as they made their way up the driveway. At the front door, Silas and Bian's car were greeted by the sight of Dick standing here in the wide open doorway in his casual wear and hair left wild as Silas was practically beaming.

Silas barely waited for the car to get into park as he rushed to get his back and the bag of treats as he headed over as Dick grinned.

"Took you long enough." Dick teased throwing an arm over Silas' shoulders. "Come on, we got so much planned and so little time."

"We have practically a full day." Silas remarked as they heard Bian behind them.

"That time will just fly by."

Realizing that Bian was still there as Silas squirmed out of his friend's grasp as he turned to his mom. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Bian nodded. "I'll be here around eleven to get you. Now give me a hug and then you can flee."

Silas immediately pulled her into a tight hug holding close against her as he whispered. "You going to be fine by yourself?"

He felt a reassuring hand through her hair as he listened to her.

"Of course. I'll be catching up on work and my shows." Laughing, she added. "I do need to speak with Bruce for a bit though."

"Okay." Silas finally broke away as he pulled away to immediately follow Dick upstairs. They went into an entertainment room with a large couch that seemed to have the ability to recline. On the table were their lunch, a pile of games - both board and video, and movies.

"So, why don't we eat lunch and then we can start things?"

"Yeah."

The sleepover went better than expected as Silas didn't want to leave. The pair had play through an extensively long game of Risk that Dick won, watched a movie with Bruce and were up until at least four in the morning playing video games until Bruce finally stepped in to check on them, which was at least 6 hours since they had last seen him, and got them to actually set up for bed.

Instead of moving to the bedrooms, Silas and Dick decided to lay down on the recliners and put on the Simpsons in the background while they got cozy for bed.

As Silas laid down, he looked over at Dick. "Hey Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"How would you rate this compared to other sleepovers you've had?"

"Honestly, this is really the first one I've had. In the circus, I was close to my cousins but we all shared a cabin anyways so it wasn't really much of a sleepover as just sharing a room. You?"

"Ten out of ten… but it is also my first." Silas let out a yawn as he pulled the blankets so he was curled up more tightly in them. "I'm glad I get to hang out with you. You're my best friend."

"Same." Dick offered as he looked to the ceiling. It was dark in the room aside from the glow of the television as he seemed to think for a moment.

"If you could have any super power, what would it be?"

Silas would admit he had to pause for a moment as he thought on this. "I think I'd like to fly. It'd be nice to be able to get away from things without "

"Cool. I'd like technology manipulation so I can actually know everything inside and out about all technology."

"That'd be fun. I wouldn't need to use IT for my issues."

"Exactly!"

Their conversation continued in a similar way, from Batman versus Superman to what they wanted to be when they grow up. Silas actually decided not to answer that last question since he honestly didn't know because he was always under the impression that he would work for the company business. When he didn't answer, it seemed that Dick took it as Silas was asleep rather than he wasn't answering which made Silas glad since he hated the idea of lying even more to Dick.

* * *

**June 26, 2009, Gotham City**

The end of grade seven finally came for Silas, much to his delight. He was content with his grades, sitting at a solid A- average- partly thanks to Dick with his assistance in science and math classes, he had started to speak up more in class and Silas even had begun to stand up for himself since it was the better thing to do. Honestly, this year took a full 360 compared to when it started even with all the hiccups from having to switch between households regularly.

That issue, however, had only worsened when school ended since he was now just regularly bouncing between their houses based on their schedules and having to adapt to the different rules because he was in the physical house more. At his father's house, things were tense and he had to walk on eggshells over everything he did and was required to be on his best behaviour and dressed to be prepared if someone of importance came over. While at his mom's, things were a chaotic mess of two people who didn't know how to cook and adapting to life without staff to do the basic things such as dishes however, the disorganization was made up for with lots of love and comfort. This was when Bian was there though. Summer had been busy for her already bouncing between filming shoots and an extended mission with the League involving espionage- that Ghost was not to be told anything or involved with.

If Silas was to be brutally honest, it frustrated him to no end because Bian had told him they were partners, not just sidekick and hero but he was stuck at his father's place and not allowed to help her. This had meant he had been away from patrol for almost a month and he was getting antsy. Silas to find points to use his powers since it felt abnormal to not use his powers regularly as if his powers were just under the surface of his skin, itching to get out.

While at his father's, Silas couldn't do the hero thing, he couldn't visit Dick and he wasn't even allowed most technology or media. If his father was feeling kind, Silas could watch an approved movie or show… with the newest one being from the seventies but that hadn't occurred in weeks. Although Silas did have a computer in his room and was allowed to use it, Silas knew that everything was being closely monitored on it which left him paranoid so he only used it for school or extended learning. There was even etiquette and business lessons he had to do with private tutors who were waiting for any mistake he made to rat him out. Honestly, it was a stressful situation but Silas knew it was normal, after all, Vince had the same lessons.

Even with being busy trying to stay out of the way and lessons, Silas noticed the differences lately there. Before it was a rather quiet place but each day many different people were coming in and out of the house for meetings regularly. Many were intimidating figures that made Silas curious on how they connected to the business; although he never took the step to speaking a word with them- he remained invisible by investing in his readings in the library.

But from this, Silas saw how temperamental that his father had become. He was unpredictable for emotions; one moment being calm but then suddenly blowing up with his face purely red in anger and eyes void of emotions. Out of fear, Silas did his best to remain unseen and away from his father's anger but that was not even that effective.

The worst issue regarding this was his blank in memory. It was two nights ago and he still had no answers.

Silas's alarm went off that morning, bright and early at six in the morning as he turned off the alarm and and moved to sit up in bed. As he leaned on his left arm to get him up, Silas couldn't help but notice a flair of pain that stung like his arm was being torn. Glancing down, he noticed the black coloured stitches in his arms. Raising his eyebrow, Silas finished sitting up and proceeded to poke the area with his other hand. There were around 15 stitches in his arm for a cut about three inches long. Pausing, he began to think about the night before but nothing came up.

He remembered going to bed, it was a quiet night with the Butler watching him all night since Vince and Vincent had gone out for the evening to something unknown to Silas and his arm was completely fine then. Standing up, he walked over to his desk as he sat down in front of the computer as he tried to think more about this. Did he go out for patrol? He doubted it, after all his suit wasn't in this house.

Silas ran a hand through his hair, thinking about what it could be as he turned in the chair to look around his room. There was something that caught his eye as he got up and over to his dresser and kneeled down to where he noticed a glimmer from the morning light. Carefully, he picked up the source. It was an amber piece of glass without a label but was slightly curved. Silas thought he recognized it as a colour similar to a bottle of alcohol.

A knock interrupted his train of thought as he pushed it further under his dresser, and stood up, turning as he called out. "Come in!"

The door opened in a smooth motion as Silas stood waiting to see who it could be. He was surprised to see that it was actually his brother. Vince was already dressed for the day, wearing dress pants and a button up shirt with a singular button at the top undone.

"Good, you're awake." Vince spoke as he calmly walked around Silas's room. "How's your arm?"

"It's… it's fine." Silas offered after carefully choosing his words as he tilted his head to Vince.

"Good." Vince looked at his arm as he let out a half chuckle. "You know I had not expected to see you sleepwalking when we got back."

"Sleepwalking?"

"Do you not remember?" Vince questioned as Silas raised a brow. He had never gone sleepwalking before. "We came back and saw you sleepwalking, knocking stuff off the counter in the kitchen. When I woke you, you slipped on liquid and fell on glass."

Silas nodded, as he looked at his arm. Being cut seemed accurate but the story seemed wrong: it didn't sit well with him but he also didn't have any reason to object.

"Anyways," Vince began. "We're going out of the house today. Get ready."

"Hey space cadet!"

Silas's focus was brought back as he looked up and around to where he was. Instead of being in his bedroom at the early morning, Silas realized he was standing on the basketball court at the Wayne Manor. Dick was across from him with a curious look on his face, hand on hip and head tilted.

Silas realized he must have zoned out as he shook his head. That was two days ago. Since then, he had nothing eventful; and then this morning, he was told that due to his father's business trip and his mother's flight not getting in until tomorrow, that he was going to the Wayne's. Silas was surprised by this since he knew his father disliked him being at the Wayne's aka 'that liberal idiot who's just throwing his money away.' Silas wasn't going to question it though because he had missed his friend and was delighted for a chance to get to see him again. Glancing down, Silas noticed the ball in his hands as he gave it a half-assed shot, not interested in playing as the ball bounced off of the rim. Dick let out an awkward laugh, but it sounded like he was trying to hide the awkwardness.

"Dude, why are you so distracted today? Everything good?"

'Y-yeah." Silas gave a shrug as he crossed his arms with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes since it was a completely fake one. "It's been a long day."

"Oh?"

"Just a lot of time at my father's house… and I miss mom." Silas offered, knowing it would be a good excuse as he moved to get the ball and stop having the eye contact with Dick.

"Well, why don't we go in and do something else? Maybe something chill?" Dick offered as he walked over to get the ball from Silas.

"Sounds great."

Dick grinned at him as he gave Silas a playful slap on his left arm before running ahead to put away the ball while yelling something along the lines of 'hurry up!'

With Dick's back turned to him, Silas let the wince show since it was still sore. He never realized how many things his arm hit in a day or was touched until he got injured there. Even when he broke his arm, he didn't realize but that was because it was casted and he had to take care of that to protect it and people KNEW. The stitches, however, were hidden under long sleeve shirts since he knew everyone would pry more about it and Silas did not have the answers to give.

Silas met Dick at the sliding door as the pair went inside. Bruce had been having a conversation it seemed with Alfred nearby that stopped with a clear tone change when Bruce saw them coming in. Dick either didn't notice or react, but Silas couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this as he kept it to himself. What would he have asked about it? He was sure he was overthinking everything about this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Edited: February 25, 2020 - **_**So I noticed a continuity error I made over the summer of 2009 so I have adjusted it so the scene that caused the issue has been moved and fixed the pieces to be in chronological order. There are no actual edits to the writing for chapter 3 and 4 aside from order. **_

* * *

**June 28, 2009 Gotham City**

After Bian got back, Silas slept extremely well and took her first day back to breathe before even thinking of the superhero stuff. They had stationed themselves at the kitchen table for the quiet day with their tools out to be tweaked and cleaned. This brought Silas a lot of joy since it meant they were likely going on patrol that night and he couldn't wait. Silas was currently working on his grappling hook, having it disassembled as he oiled up the gears and planned on fixing the scope or accuracy since last mission it had been a couple inches off. Which didn't matter at that time since it still caught but Silas wasn't interested in becoming a Ghost shaped pancake by taking that risk. There was some background noise from the television to keep his mind even more content. Overall, a nice day that Silas could breathe easily with.

"You know what? After this we should go swimming." Bian piped up from her seat across from the table as Silas stiffened hearing this. It was warm out and he would have loved to go swimming but that would mean showing off his arms and his mother would see his stitches.

"I'm good." Silas finally spoke as that seemed to throw off his mother.

Her expression changed immediately from one of excitement to concern as she looked at Silas. "You always like swimming though and its a gorgeous day." She got up and went around the table as she pressed the back of her hand to Silas's head, the other hand resting on his shoulder. "Are you feeling okay baby?"

"I'm fine mom," he shrugged off his mom's hand as he continued. "I just don't want to go swimming."

"Well, how about we-" Bian spoke as Silas cut in.

"Can't we just stay in today?" Silas stood up, annoyed his mother was pushing so much and wasn't taking a hint. "I just want a quiet day tweaking my tools and then going for patrol."

"We have plenty of time for patrol, and it hasn't been that long since our last patrol."

"I haven't been out in weeks. YOU were the one who's been out. I thought I was your partner, not your accessory." Silas sharply bit out as he noticed immediately that Bian recoiled just enough for him to know that he crossed a boundary with that remark. Regret immediately hit him as he knew he needed to get away from his mother in the moment. He scooped up the mat with his grappling hook and tools before heading to his bedroom. Silas kicked the door shut as gently as possible to not further this.

Silas set the mat on his desk, completely ignoring it for the moment as he flopped down onto his bed with a heavy sigh; he wanted to be invisible in that moment for about a year so he could avoid this- he guessed even in that moment he was invisible but that meant opening his eyes to check and he didn't feel like it. Silas knew that if he actually had talked with his mother, he wouldn't be so quick to snap; but he didn't know how to approach it since he didn't have answers. This left him in a hard place of trying to avoid the argument- by having a different one.

His arm still ached from the stitches, and itched- which was a sign it was at least healing so hopefully by the end of the next week he could have them removed. Silas was drained though from having to hide them since it was already warm for the summer and he was stuck wearing long sleeve shirts. If he wore a t-shirt though, his mother would freak out.

He was in between a rock and a hard place without answers and it frustrated him to no end. Sitting up after a bit, Silas figured his mom would give him an hour to cool down and he had the opportunity to switch shirts to a short sleeve and literally cool down some.

After some time moping on snapping at his mother, Silas got back to work on the grappling hook to finish his tweaking and moving on. Desiring to ignore his emotions: and if he were honest letting his mother stew a bit more on realizing she was neglecting him as a hero since Silas was not happy that he shouted at his mother but it was how he had been feeling lately; Silas focused on his research again for sleepwalking.

There are a number of factors that can contribute to sleepwalking. These include:

fatigue or lack of sleep, irregular sleeping habits, stress or anxiety, being in a different sleep environment, illness or fever, certain medications, including sedatives, stimulants, and antihistamines or a family history of sleepwalking.

Pursing his lips, he thought about it more, his leg unintentionally bouncing. Maybe he was so stressed having been at his father's house and the additional learning that it occurred? Nothing else in the realm seemed to fit the bubble. Silas jotted it down as a possibility, marking the journal title before he moved on to a different one. It was a thirty page one and as Silas read about the science of sleepwalking, he tuned out the rest of the world.

"Silas. What. Happened." He heard, pulling his focus back as Silas looked over to see his mother in the room and that she was setting a plate on his dresser. She must have knocked and he didn't hear her.

"Huh?"

"Your arm." Bian spoke, coming over as she grabbed it to inspect it. He could hear her trying and failing at being calm while she looked it over. "These are stitches!"

Dropping his arm, Bian sat on the bed so she could be around his eye level as she softened her expression to look at him. It was clear she was upset over the situation but Silas couldn't help but to feel like his mother was angry at him.

"Si, baby, what happened?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Bian questioned as she raised a brow. "How do you not know. Did you sneak out to patrol-"

"No." Silas interrupted quickly as he let out a deep sigh. It was time to come clean. "I woke up with them. Vince said he found me sleepwalking but I don't remember that happening or even the stitches…"

"I see."

"Honestly, it's not a big deal. I probably was just stressed." Silas's stomach felt heavy and the guilt was getting unbearable. He was supposed to be able to tell his mother anything but it felt as if there was a weight on him- one not even identifiable to himself like he was keeping the biggest secret from her.

"Baby, this isn't a little thing. You got hurt but it's okay." Bian's voice was soft as she leaned over, placing a hand on his knee. "You need to be honest though. Please. I trust you but that only works if you're open with me."

He nodded as Bian let out a heavy sigh herself. She clearly wasn't done with this and Silas awkwardly looked down at his own lap. He was lost at how to move on from this.

**July 23, 2009, Location Unknown **

"Alright, get back up." Bian called out as she adjusted the bandages wrapped around the palms of her hands and wrists. She looked as if she was just preparing to train and not that the pair had been at this for three hours already. It was a private room in a local boxing gym that Bian regularly used. Silas was laying on the floor's mat as he looked at her from his position. This training lesson had been working on counters and throws- which they had been for the last few days but Silas was failing miserably. Today alone, this had to be the twenty something time he'd been thrown to the ground without a hint of getting out of this new throw. Bian had specified neither were allowed to use their powers since 'you need to know these skills' which was annoying Silas could turn himself intangible to get out; why did he need to learn how to deflect and counter when he could just phaze through?

Letting out a groan, Silas forced himself to stand up once more as he brushed the sweat off his brow. Every muscle ached and the twelve year old wanted nothing more than to play video games or get a head start on school readings!

"I get it, I can't do this stupid move. Can't we just move on to something else?"

Bian paused, looking at him as she shook her head as she let out a sharp sounding 'No.'

Returning to the starting position, Silas made a face. "Why not?"

"This isn't a movie or a game. You don't just get to redo it or ask for a pause when you're tired." Her voice was stern as she looked at him. "As a hero, you need to do the right thing quickly and you know what? It's your job to always get back up and keep fighting if you want to be a hero. If you stay down, if you hesitate, you're already dead."

"Okay but this is JUST practice."

"Practice so I know that you will always get back up." Bian looked at him. "Thức dậy. Get up. Promise me you'll always choose to get up."

"Huh?" Her tone was throwing Silas off and to be honest, he was taken aback by this. His mother was normally an optimist but this seemed so pessimistic.

"Promise me that no matter what you're faced with, you will ALWAYS get back up."

Unsure how to approach this, he nodded as Silas looked at her, trying to hide his concern. "Okay mom. Thức dậy."

"Good."

**July 28, 2009, Gotham City**

He didn't want to complain but after sitting still for an hour on the rooftop, Ghost was starting to get uncomfortable with sitting on the hard rooftop. It was gross out and he wanted nothing more than to sit in his room. It was almost comically ridiculous on having to capture Dr. Kirk Langstrom. The man was completely off his rockers now flying around Gotham as he tried to attack people since he turned himself into a giant humanised bat that was somehow still wearing pants- he was going to question it, but wouldn't complain.

Robin was on the rooftop across from him, on his eleventh joke about Man Bat as Ghost tried to not let himself groan, honestly they weren't good. It was like the time that Robin was going on about how people always use good or bad instead of the other options available.

The plan was to get Batman to lure Man Bat towards the net since Man Bat was actively going for him- something of a 'there can only be one part man part bat' scenario, then Phasma would be the one to blind him with a large work light on top of the building while the boys wrapped him in a net before securing it to the ground.

Since Ghost had the ability to be invisible, he was the unlucky sidekick to be sitting in the visible spot with the strong wind so he had to stay invisible so Man Bat couldn't see him. Although, they were all concerned about if Man Bat would still see him with echolocation if he were solid and he needed to stay solid to hold the net since he had a lot of difficulty only shifting part of his body.

It finally seemed that Batman was arriving as they heard. "On your mark."

"Ready?" Robin asked over the comm as Ghost gave him a quiet yes back.

"Okay… 3, 2, 1!" Robin yelled as Batman jumped over their net as the work light came on; brightening the sky. There was a piercing screech as Man Bat collided into the net. Both Robin and Ghost were dragged slightly by this as they got a grounding and swung between the two buildings to wrap Man Bat as they tied off the ends to the metal pegs in the rooftops so that Man Bat was between them until Batman could put him in a better wrapping to take away.

Ghost jumped over to the rooftop where the rest were as Batman looked at Robin and him. "Good job you two." Batman offered as he then passed them and patted Ghost on the shoulder.

"Seriously, good job. You've really gotten the hang of this."

Robin was grinning as Ghost lifted his hand for a fist bump, it was starting to become a norm for them to do this whenever they saw each other on patrol.

"I could say the same to you, you know." Robin bursted into laughter when they all suddenly heard a loud screech followed by the whine and creaking of metal on the further rooftop- knowing that the other bar wouldn't last long.

Ghost immediately saw one of the pegs was coming out as he shouted at Robin. "Get down!"

Instead of ducking, Ghost phased himself as he watched as Man Bat began tearing the net, trying to fly in any direction he could as he crashed into Phasma and Batman when they went to capture them. The two tumbled off the building but heard the telltale 'thwip' of a grappling gun. He didn't think on the matter as he ran over at Man Bat as the net finally fell and wrapped his arms tightly around the thick neck of Man Bat, grabbing either wrist with his hand to secure it. Ghost's legs went to try and pin down the wings but as a boy who was maybe 90 pounds on a good day, the Man Bat had far more strength than him.

Man Bat flew through the air as he tried to get Ghost off of his back by flying in loops and diving or rising sporadically.

"GHOST" Phasma screamed into his comm as Ghost let out a bit of a sigh. "We're tracking you now just hold on!"

"TRYING." Ghost called back as he clung even tighter, afraid to shift in case he couldn't control it and he fell through Man Bat to his demise. He kept his eyes in front as he tried to direct Man Bat as needed so he couldn't be rubbed off on a building. It was exactly like riding a wild horse or bucking bull; with the added danger of falling to his death. He was starting to get sick to his stomach as he decided to hook his ankles together to secure him as he tried to take action into his own hands. He moved his one arm, hoping to block the mouth from using echolocation as he got it over the mouth. However, Man Bat opened his mouth and bit down into Ghost's arms with a crushing force as Ghost howled in pain.

"Do whatever that was again!" he heard in the comm as Ghost clued in. Having the scream near the ears was also throwing him off. It worked as Man Bat stopped flying forward but rather dropped in the air while moving circles to throw Ghost off. Even as Man Bat began clawing at the bitten arm, Ghost refused to let go. It was only when they were over a building he even considered it.

He saw Batman briefly as there was suddenly a bright flash in front of Ghost as he heard "DROP." Trusting his mentor, Ghost let go, falling backwards as he felt himself land on something large and soft- probably one of Batman's gadgets as he rubbed at his eyes with his good hand until he could see as he felt smaller hands on him.

"How cool was that?" Robin asked as he pulled Ghost to a safe spot before he began to wash off the area. Ghost hissed in pain as he did so.

"Kind of awesome." Ghost admitted. "It's like those mechanical bulls but more dangerous."

"I may need to try it." Robin teased as he looked at Ghost. "This will sting." he offered before he threw on ointment. "Also, you'll probably need to get some shots to be safe."

Robin continued bandaging it up before he suddenly made a face. Ghost looked over to see Batman dealing with an unconscious Man Bat as Phasma was storming over.

"S- _Ghost _that was too dangerous to do. What were you even thinking?"

"That we needed to get him before he hurt anyone else. I'm fine!"

"Bạn có thể đã bị giết!" Phasma screeched out as she pointed as his arm before crossing her arms. Ghost immediately yelled back. (_You could have been killed!)_

"Đó là một phần của việc trở thành một siêu anh hùng, bạn thậm chí đã nói như vậy!" (_That is part of being a superhero, you even said so!_)

It seemed that the pair were at a stalemate as she let out a sigh. "We need to get this checked out after we've got Man Bat to the proper authorities."

"Take him, they're already on the way. Robin and I can handle this." Batman spoke as she grabbed Ghost by his good arm to follow her.

* * *

**August 24, 2009 ****Gotham Academy**

It was the start of the new school year and Silas was excited to start grade 8 since it meant he had a regular schedule and something to do in the day time. During the summer, he had been taking many different lessons and tutors on subjects his father wanted him to know. He never wanted to see anything about accounting for at least a month after the last lecture; but at least the language lessons were interesting.

The summer had been pretty jammed packed if he were honest. In June, he was in Gotham working as a hero, even sneaking out of his father's a few times to do patrol. Then in July, he spent three weeks with his mother in Vietnam and the last week in Gotham. Of course, that was the week he broke his arm before having to go to his father's. Vincent was pissed to see Silas having a broken arm and after their trip in Europe, he refused to let Silas out of the Manor since he was 'too reckless'.

Silas was impatiently waiting for Dick as he stared at the bag in front of him. It was full of goodies for Dick and even a few for Alfred and Bruce. His leg was bouncing in nerves as he waited for Dick. Soon the boy in question came in as Silas was practically beaming in joy. This was the first time he had seen Dick since July as he waved his casted arm to Dick.

"Whoa, whoa. Did you break your arm?"

"Yeah." Silas spoke as he immediately recited the story they came up with. "So, mom and I were hiking then I kind of got lost and fell down a hill. It got all broken and scratched up since I landed on some rusty metal… so I also needed shots with it." He looked down at the plain cast with a smile. "But I only have a couple weeks left with it on though?"

"I can't believe your clumsy enough to fall down a hill." Dick teased as he sat down. "Guess you need to take me next time to save you."

Silas rolled his eyes. "It rarely happens. Anyways, be nice or I'll give away your present." This seemed to appeal to Dick- who's bright blue eyes widened and looked at the bag.

"You've intrigued me."

Silas nudged the bag over as Dick immediately dug in. He pulled out the packets of vietnamese style beef jerky, spicy noodles, treats from Vietnam and Europe. He then was more careful as he took the box marked Alfred out, which was a simple tea cup from England with loose leaf black tea for the butler. There was a few things in a small box for Bruce but Bian had already bought him plenty in Vietnam and gave it to him. Finally, Dick got through the knicknacks of bookmarks, photos and different comic books he found through the area. Lastly was the big present. It was a tartan wool blanket that Dick seemed to be impressed with. "All of this is amazing, thank you!"

"I was hoping you'd like it." Silas was laughing awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. He could feel his cheeks flushing but he wasn't sure why exactly.

"Man, you're like the best friend ever for this." Dick pulled Silas into a tight hug as he felt some bubbling in his chest. He chalked it up to the relief of being around his best friend again. When Dick pulled away, he gestured to the cast. "Are you planning on getting this signed?"

"I wasn't sure to be honest. I had to keep needing it changed since they had to check the cuts but I think this is the last one."

"Well, you don't need to show off that arm any time soon, right?"

Silas thought for a moment as he shook his head. "Nope."

"Then it's fine." Dick reasoned as he shrugged. "Well, only if you want it."

Silas seemed to hold his arm out as Dick grinned and began to doodle and write towards the end near the elbow. It was a few trees with a rock, all crudely drawn in Sharpie with his full first name of 'Richard' on it.

"You rarely even go by Richard though…"

"Yeah, but do you really want _Dick_ on your arm? Your brother's friends would love that fuel."

"That's true." Silas offered as they noticed the teacher coming in. Dick took the bag of presents and set it to the side of his desk before pulling out his notebook. They boys focused on their class, knowing they'd share notes for any classes they had together, which was all but 2 this year. Silas was grinning the entire time though since he knew that this year was going to be a great school year for his friendship.

* * *

**November 14, 2009, Gotham City**

It was a calm Saturday, with only a bit of snow coming down on the November day. Silas was in his room trying to finish up his reading notes- knowing that Dick would need them that night so he could actually do the book report to the teacher's standards; since that year the English teacher was not holding back and wanted many instances of symbolism and allegory shown- something that the literal focused Dick Grayson struggled with. Silas was excited for the night since his mom mentioned about going out for patrol earlier than usual which was a great birthday present for him! Silas had been looking forward to start having long patrols. After that, she promised to give him his actual present. Silas was finally thirteen years old: an actual teenager and got to experience this for a few weeks before Dick joined him. Not that he felt any different but there had to be something about being a teenager- like maybe he'd wake up and actually start getting taller since he was now a teen!

Silas heard a noise from his doorway as he barely looked over when he was tackled from his desk chair and onto the floor. Without even taking a second to think, Silas flipped the pair so he had the assailant pinned on the ground with an arm pressed over the shoulder and collar bone area. Taking a second, he finally noticed who it was as he scrambled off.

"Dick?" Silas stood up as he helped DIck to get up as he made a face. "Sorry you startled me."

"I was not expecting that from you." Dick commented offhandedly as Silas shrugged, making an awkward face as he tried to process an answer.

"Mom's big on self defense in the last year… so I've have a few classes?"

"Well, it should help with any additional bullying. However, it means I'll need to be prepared the next time I sneak up on you."

"Anyways, what are you doing here Dick?"

"It's your birthday!" Dick cheered, throwing an arm over Silas's shoulder as he proceeded to guide his best friend through the door.

"Well, yeah but-"

"Did you really think we wouldn't celebrate it? After all, last year you celebrated it more with your dad." Dick offered in more of a rhetorical question as he was led to the living room. Silas noticed that Bruce and Bian were standing in there talking and clearly waiting.

"Uh, what's going on?" Silas questioned, looking around the living room in case Alfred suddenly decided to pop out.

"Well, Dick came to me since he was determined we should throw you a party!" Silas's face blanched upon hearing this since he was not interested in the idea of a party full of people that he barely knew- and terrified him of being thrown to the crowd.

BIan saw this as she immediately waved her hands as she corrected herself. "Like just with us."

"Unfortunately, I can't join you." Bruce interjected. "But I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday Silas."

"Thanks Bruce."

"So, you ready?" Bian asked as Silas nodded, unsure of where in the dickens they were going or what the plan was.

Of all of what Silas was expecting from Dick and his mother, he was not expecting to go to an arcade- especially one so close to An's bakery: Black Cat Bakery. They had gone to get food first from An. Having banh mis was a first for Dick, who decided to get the same order as Silas even when warned that it was a spicy dish. That ended with Dick having his eyes absolutely tearing up from the sheer spice of the food as Silas couldn't help but laugh at the expense of his friend. Even Bian chuckled at this as she went to get some milk to help Dick manage the spice.

After this, Bian dropped the two off at the arcade, telling them that she would come automatically at 7pm to pick them up but if they needed her at all to call her ahead of time. Bian also made them promise to not leave the building or get separated. Silas felt it was far too much and that Bian was being overprotective but decided to let it go. Silas walked into the arcade as he couldn't help but let out a small 'wow' with a wide smile. This was a large place full of bright lights and noise with probably a hundred different games and Silas wanted to check them all out.

"Come on!" Dick shouted over the music as he grabbed Silas's hand to drag him to the first empty game. Silas couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as Dick pulled him along before his friend dropped his hand as he pointed to the game. "So, when you play this you get tickets. The better you do, the more tickets you get for a prize."

"Cool." Silas offered with a smile as he looked at the game. It was called Skee Ball. Dick glanced at Silas with a strange expression as if waiting for Silas to ask a question. When he didn't though, Dick smiled and pulled something out of his pocket. "How about I go first?"

Dick began to place the tokens into the machine as Silas raised a brow. When did he stop to get tokens? He didn't notice but he did vocalize this as Dick let out a half laugh.

"Oh earlier today but just focus on watching." Dick turned around as he grabbed one of the small balls and bowled it up the ramp. "See? Simple. Aim for the ones with the higher points."

Silas nodded as he took three tokens from Dick as he started the game beside Dick. Silas bowled the first one, but it was clearly too much force for the ball as he slammed against the back wall before tumbling into the 10. Pursing his lips, Silas tried with a lighter throw as it went to the midrange. He continued, doing well in his opinion-even getting a single 100 point one but then he saw Dick's score. A desire to beat Dick encapsulated him as he took another few tokens and focused on the game. He could do this- he'd ran from an arsonist. He survived Mr. Dinkler's math class! WIth intense focus, Silas threw the balls as he focused on scoring more than his friend with the six balls. Dick had 350 points. Although he aimed for the hundreds each time, he landed it four out of the six times with a 10 and 20 as the other scores leaving him at a score of 430. Dick only got 380 that round as Silas felt satisfaction and couldn't help but grin Silas grabbed all the tickets and shoved them in his pocket before he let Dick drag him to the next game.

"You sure you've never played these games before?"

"Positive." Silas grinned as he looked at Dick. "I guess you just need to get better at this."

"Rude!" Dick shot back as he couldn't help but laugh. "You're lucky it is your birthday."

Silas rolled his eyes, giving Dick a playful shove. "Just accept defeat with grace."

"Oh, you're on!" Dick hollered shoving Silas back as he ran ahead to a different game yelling that he wasn't going easy on Silas.

* * *

The pair were exhausted from playing games and collecting tickets by the time 7pm hit. They decided to get some of the goofier prizes: like plastic Green Lantern rings, candy and foam Batarangs. They still had tickets left so they offered them to younger kids before heading out of the arcade to meet Bian who was sitting in the car waiting for them.

Both got into the back seat as they collectively shared the experience with Bian on how the arcade was- which was mainly them talking over each other.

"Seriously, though Bian, he's never been to one?"

"Not with me and I doubt his father's taken him." Bian smiled as she glanced back in the rear view mirror. "Maybe it's a natural talent for him.'

"I just told Dick he'd need to practice."

Bian couldn't help but snort loudly at this as Dick feigned offense but broke into laughter with Bian and Silas.

The rest of the ride to the Wayne manor was pretty uneventful as they continued talking about stories from class to Bian. When they dropped Dick off, he made Silas actually get out of the car as he rushed into the house before coming out.

Dick returned with a wrapped box. "You have to wait to open this until later tonight, okay?" Dick spoke as Silas nodded. "Message me when you do though!"

"Will do." Silas smiled as he looked at Dick. "You didn't have to get me anything though."

"Of course I did. We're friends." Dick patted Silas's shoulder as he grinned. "Happy birthday buddy."

"Thanks."

When Silas and Bian got back to the apartment, he set the present down as he stretched a bit, letting out a yawn. "So, patrol?"

"Are you feeling up for it? You've had a long day already."

"Of course!" Silas spoke. "Come on, let's go out in a bit."

"Okay but first you should take a nap."

Silas raised his hands to symbolize a surrender. "Fine, but only for an hour."

"Deal."

Sure enough, an hour later, which Silas was feeling much more alert after, he went into the office already in suit as he stopped in his tracks. On the desk was something new. "What's this?" Silas questioned as he went over to pick up the parcel. It was a new utility belt that seemed to have more options.

Bian smiled from her chair as she looked at Silas. "I figured you were mature enough for some more tools on your belt. Smoke pellets, a lock picking kit, a new knife, kevlar rope and a few other things."

"This is so cool!" Silas hollered as he went through the things before looking at his mom. "This is the best present."

"That's only part of it. You get the one for Silas later, okay baby?"

Silas smiled as he ran over, pulling his mother in a hug as he nodded. "Thank you." It was a tight hug of joy as Bian wrapped her arms around him too.

"Love you baby. Happy Birthday."

"Love you too."

* * *

As exciting as his day was, Ghost found patrol to be uneventful- although Phasma did teach him how to use the rope to make handcuffs or tie someone up and how to get out of zipties with it if needed- similar to the shoelace method.

When they got back, Ghost took off his mask as he walked towards his bedroom. He was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

"Si, don't forget your presents."

"Oh yeah!" he spoke, remembering that was something he had waiting for him. In the living room, he noticed that beside the box Dick had given him, there was another one. It was a green box with a ribbon on top. Silas headed over as he opened it. Inside was a game system. He knew this one, it was one of the newest game systems. Underneath it seemed to be everything he needed for it such as a headset, games and controllers.

"Wow." Silas looked at his mom. "This is cool."

"I know you won't be able to bring it to your dad's… but you can play online with Dick while you're here. Now open his."

Silas smiled as he ripped apart the paper. When he opened the box, he saw the note.

I know your mom got you some new games and stuff so I thought you'd like something old school too.

Sure enough, Silas noticed under the letter was a game boy. It was one of the ones that didn't have a backlit screen but was a clear plastic case. Under it was an album that Silas pulled out to see all sorts of games and a pack of rechargeable batteries. He had mentioned offhandedly once that he wanted to play this system and somehow Dick remembered! His heart was warm and fuzzy as he reread the note.

This was the best birthday ever.


End file.
